--- title: This Book Is Bound in Human Skin description: Experts at Harvard have confirmed that the binding could not have come from any other animal canonical: https://time.com/2835499/this-harvard-university-library-book-is-bound-in-human-skin/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-06T00:59:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:26.860Z og:title: This Book Is Bound in Human Skin og:description: Experts at Harvard have confirmed that the binding could not have come from any other animal og:url: https://time.com/2835499/this-harvard-university-library-book-is-bound-in-human-skin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Book Is Bound in Human Skin twitter:description: Experts at Harvard have confirmed that the binding could not have come from any other animal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Harvard University Library Book Is Bound in Human Skin > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 6, 2014 12:59 AM UTC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jun 6, 2014 12:59 AM UTC A book bound in human skin sits in one of Harvard University’s libraries, experts at the school [said this week](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/houghton/2014/06/04/caveat-lecter/). Scientists tested the 19th-century book _Des destineés de l’ame_ and concluded that they were “99.9% confident” that the binding comes from a person’s epidermis. The [library says](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/houghton/2014/06/04/caveat-lecter/) that Dr. Ludovic Bouland bound the book in the mid-1880s after receiving it as a gift from the author, Arene Houssaye. He wrapped it using skin from the unclaimed body of a female mental patient who died of a stroke. He left a [now-missing note](http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/2/2/the-skinny-on-harvards-rare-book/) in the book to shed some light on his decision, albeit : “A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering.” The tests of the binding ruled out other animal sources, including sheep, cattle, goats and primates closely related to humans like apes and gibbons. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2835499/this-harvard-university-library-book-is-bound-in-human-skin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2835499/this-harvard-university-library-book-is-bound-in-human-skin/"},"headline":"This Harvard University Library Book Is Bound in Human Skin","datePublished":"2014-06-06T00:59:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:26.860Z","description":"Experts at Harvard have confirmed that the binding could not have come from any other animal","url":"https://time.com/2835499/this-harvard-university-library-book-is-bound-in-human-skin/","keywords":["Newsfeed","History","Bizarre","Harvard","book","Library"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2835499/this-harvard-university-library-book-is-bound-in-human-skin/","name":"This Harvard University Library Book Is Bound in Human Skin"}}]}] ```