Story
Harvard University removes human skin from the cover of a book
Harvard University in Cambridge has removed the cover of a book because of its “ethically questionable origins.” photo
© –/XinHua/dpa
A book bound in human skin? Years ago, one such example from Harvard University in the US made headlines. Now the skin is removed.
They will consult with the relevant authorities “to determine a final, respectful site for these human remains.”
The book also made headlines in Germany in 2014 when an investigation revealed that it was bound in human skin. It is a copy of “Des destinées de l’âme” (in German: About the fate of the soul), which the French writer Arsène Houssaye first published in 1879, according to the Harvard Library.
Doctor did not have approval for this
The first owner of the book was a French doctor. He bound the book with skin “that he had taken without consent from the body of a deceased patient in the hospital where he worked,” the university library said in a statement. According to her, the book has been in the library’s collections since 1934 and is housed in the Houghton Library – one of the university’s many libraries.
After a careful examination, it was concluded that the human remains used for the book cover no longer belong in the library collections, it said. As justification, the library referred, among other things, to the “ethically questionable history of the book’s origins”.
She admitted that she had made mistakes in the past when dealing with the book. These would have further objectified and impaired the dignity of the person concerned. “We apologize to those harmed by these actions.”