11.4.06

Should I die before I wake: more books bound in human flesh

I wrote a little on anthropodermic bibiliopegy awhile back, which lead to some black humour and then some ruminations on how the materials, or the medium (and I'm thinking of McLuhan here) far outweigh the text, since the medium conveys the embedded cultural meanings that inform how the medium is shaped and presented. If the book is bound in human flesh, then what messages are being transmitted here?

This particular book, pictured above, was turned over to the West Yorkshire Police after it was found in Leeds. Police officers are asking for someone to come forward and claim the book. The text is in French and is dated to be around the 1700's, which is interesting because books like these were common during the French Revolution. Between the 18th and 19th century, anthropodermic bibiliopegy was regularly practiced as a legal procedure: murder trials were inscribed in the accused's skin.

My earlier post on the topic is here, the BoingBoing post is here, the Warren Ellis post is here and a BBC report is here.

2 comments:

marlo said...

Holy fuck, is that ever fascinating. WOW.

Jay said...

This totally blows my mind, and it seems like more "specimens" are appearing in public.