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Poetry, the imagination, and the creative life.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Anthropodermic Bibliopegy?

An idea for your next book cover? if you ask me, this was a really creepy story . . .

While binding books in human skin is not common, it is not unusual, says Mr Rouse. The practice is known as anthropodermic bibliopegy and seems to have been most popular during the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of the first books covered in human skin were medical books – the skins were primarily from amputated body parts and unclaimed corpses. Occasionally, as in the case of Cudmore, the skin of executed prisoners was used. “It sounds grim but if I gave you the book to hold and didn’t tell you what it was covered in you would never know, it just looks like normal leather,” said Mr Rouse.
Posted by Peter at 2:57 PM
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1 comment:

T. said...

Uh, no. Reminds me of the Project Runway contestant (Chris?) who used human hair on his garments.

February 28, 2011 9:28 AM

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Poetry can communicate before it is understood. ~T. S. Eliot

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Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~ Plato

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A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep. ~ Salman Rushdie

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Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~ Novalis

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Poetry is what maintains our capacity for contemplation and difficulty. — Carolyn Forche

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Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild. — Denis Diderot

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Sometimes something wants to be said, sometimes a way of saying wants to be used. — Paul ValĂ©ry

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