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A review by kasss
Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom
4.5
I've been meaning to read this book since it came out in 2020. It was Harvard's announcement last month, stating they were removing the human skin binding from a book (said book is also discussed in Dark Archives), that finally triggered me to read it because I needed to know more.
From the reviews of this book alone you can tell this is a controversial topic - the author simultaneously gets criticised for not being in favour of dismantling books bound in human skin, as well as for being too apologetic about the fact that these books exist at all. All in all, I think it was a carefully considered and well written book, and it answered some questions I had.
Don't get too excited though - there is still relatively little to say about these books, first and foremost because there truly aren't that many confirmed cases out there (out of 51 alleged anthropodermic books, only 18 are confirmed to be bound in human skin), and second because their history is often untraceable. (What we do now know however is incredibly fascinating, and in many cases depressing.) A lot of the book is 'filler', but it's interesting and often does a good job at contextualising.
(My only complaint is that I'm frustrated we were left hanging in chapter 12 - I get that Rosenbloom probably didn't have any opportunity to study the Poe first-hand herself, but she manages to trace fascinating provenance, and makes this grand statement:
From the reviews of this book alone you can tell this is a controversial topic - the author simultaneously gets criticised for not being in favour of dismantling books bound in human skin, as well as for being too apologetic about the fact that these books exist at all. All in all, I think it was a carefully considered and well written book, and it answered some questions I had.
Don't get too excited though - there is still relatively little to say about these books, first and foremost because there truly aren't that many confirmed cases out there (out of 51 alleged anthropodermic books, only 18 are confirmed to be bound in human skin), and second because their history is often untraceable. (What we do now know however is incredibly fascinating, and in many cases depressing.) A lot of the book is 'filler', but it's interesting and often does a good job at contextualising.
While some of its previous owners may remain forever in shadows, we now know that it has passed through the hands of the best and brightest in American medicine and perhaps literature as well—men whose work has affected all of our lives.