January
12
/ 2019
Anthropodermic bibliopegy refers to the practice of binding books in human skin. According to folk legend, the binding of books (or more appropriately manuscripts, as they were hand-written) in human skin can be traced all the way back to the Middle Ages. The first reliable accounts of books being bound in human skin, however, date to the 17 th century and it seems to have become popular during the 19 th century. When Did the Practice of Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Begin? The use or abuse of a dead person’s skin may be traced back to ancient times. Reliefs from the Neo- Assyrian period, for instance, show prisoners or captives being flayed. This was a slow and painful method of execution in
