Content warnings for this episode:

• Corpse violation
• Medical ethics violations
• Abuse of power
• Objectifying the human body
• Worms
• Murder and Mutilation
• Racism & Colonialism
• The French
• The British
• …and swears of course

In part two of our series on anthropodermic bibliopegy, aka, binding books in human skin, we discuss why anyone would ever think this is a good idea. From the guillotines of the French Revolution, to the postmortem dissections of murder victims in Edinburgh, to racist propaganda promoting Manifest Destiny, there’s always been mythmaking around books bound in human skin. We talk about the mystique around these books in Western culture and why such useful rumors had these objects at their center. Then, of course, it’s time to get into the big, sticky moral question—once one of these books is confirmed to be human, what should be done with it?

But to look in order to know, to show in order to teach, is not this a tacit form of violence, all the more abusive for its silence, upon a sick body that demands to be comforted, not displayed? — Michel Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic

Mentioned on this episode:

• Again, our main source for the day: Dark Archives by Megan Rosenbloom
• The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly world of Victorian Medicine Lindsey Fitzharris
• Paul Needham’s recommendations for what should be done with Armand Houssaye’s Des destinées de l’âme, which was confirmed to be bound in human skin.
• This is not mentioned because it came out after recording, but it’s still pretty cool! Caitlin Doughty did an episode of her YouTube show “Ask a Mortician” on Anthropodermic Bibliopegy!

The post Episode 61: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Part 2 first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Episode 61: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Part 2 appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The Necronomicon, tomes from the shelves of serial killers and war criminals—these are a few things that come to mind when we talk about books bound in human skin. Anthropodermic bibliopegy, as it is called, is actually quite a bit different than these sensationalist examples. In reality, the people whose libraries included these books were well-to-do doctors and other privileged members of society. In part one of this two part series, we explore the science of identifying these books, as well as how people came into possession of them.

Heed the content warnings and strap in! This one is more than a little gross.

Content Warnings for:

• Corpse violation
• Medical ethics violations
• Abuse of power
• Objectifying the human body
• Colonialism

There are so many points of failure in this progression.
—Chris, regarding Dr. John Stockton Hough’s use of Mary Lynch’s skin in his personal library

Mentioned in this Episode

• Our main source for the day: Dark Archives by Megan Rosenbloom
• Website for the Anthropodermic Book Project
• Atlas Obscura article: The True Practice of Binding Books in Human Skin by Rob Velella
• Anthropodermic Biocodicology episode of the podcast Ologies by Alie Ward
• Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires: The History of Corpse Medicine from the Renaissance to the Victorians by Richard Sugg

Link to transcript: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Part 1

The post Episode 60: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Part 1 first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Episode 60: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Part 1 appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.