Arthur Usai gave this book to a doctor friend. After receiving this book, Dr. Ludovic ordered the book with the cover of human skin, and left a handwritten note in the book: "This is a book about human soul, which is worth protecting with human skin ... You can easily identify the pores on human skin by careful observation".
In fact, leather books not only exist in horror legends, but also have a long history. In medieval Europe, leather books were not uncommon.
In the17th century, binding leather books is a recognized technology and occupation. In the19th century, human skin books were quite popular in the upper class of Europe, and anatomical books, wills, vows and laws were all covered with human skin, which was immortal. At present, there are still hundreds of books in the world, which are kept in museums, libraries or private collectors.
Leather books are mainly made for punishment and commemoration, and there are usually three sources of leather. The first is the patient. Unclaimed patient corpses and amputations can be collected by doctors and become materials for making human skin books. The other was sentenced to death. In order to punish them, their skins will be bound into books, collected in the homes of the rich, or given to the families of the victims. The third is the author himself. The last wish of some authors is to use their own skin as the cover of their works. Every skin book has its own story.
The murder of Zang Honggu is the most creepy book. After binding, the hair on the human skin covering actually seems to be growing. This book records a murder in England in 1827. The skin came from the murderer William Gotha.
The 25-year-old farmer originally made an appointment with his lover one year older than him to meet in the local Cang Hong Valley, and then eloped together. However, William's lover did not arrive as scheduled and was murdered by William. Before his arrest and execution, William had fled to London, married someone else and started a new life. At that time, in Britain, in order to study the difference between murderers and ordinary people, all executed murderers had to be dissected, so William Gotha was skinned, his face was made into a human skin mask, and his skin was bound into a book.
However, the fur on the book cover has been growing for a long time, and you can still feel it by touching it. Presumably, this is because the human skin shrinks due to water loss, and the hair looks longer than before, just like the fingernails of a corpse give people the illusion of growth. This murder case is quite famous in Britain. Now, Zang Honggu has become a famous tourist attraction, crowded with tourists and vendors, and the drama about Zang Honggu's murder is still being staged.
Another famous leather book, The Real Traitor, recorded a mutiny. On the cover of the book, it is written in Latin: "Repent and atone with your body". 1605, a group of Catholic traitors attempted to murder the then King James I and seize power. They planted explosives in the capitol, intending to detonate them when the House of Representatives was in session. After the plan was exposed, henry garrett, one of the traitors, was stripped naked and bound into a book. Now many people think that Henry's painful and twisted face can be seen on the cover.
In 2006, a personal ledger was also found in Leeds, England. This book was born in the 1990s of 18, during the French Revolution. There is no human feature on the cover, and it is confirmed to be human skin after being examined by a dermatologist. British experts say that in order to preserve books well, the human skin used as the cover should be at least as thick as three stacks of paper.
Some skin books are memorable. Dr Camille Framarion is a famous French astronomer and writer with many admirers, including a French countess. The countess loves Camille's poems very much, but she has never touched Camille in real life. After suffering from tuberculosis, the young countess made a will and asked to cut off a large piece of skin from her shoulder after her death and give it to Camille to bind his next book. Camille agreed, and he made the cover of the poetry collection "Land in the Air" from the countess's skin, and wrote in hot stamping French: "According to a lady's wishes, the cover of this book is made from her skin. 1882。 "
Camille had been collecting this book before her death, and later her poems were bought by American collectors.
So far, only two skin books have been found in Australia, and the National Library of Australia keeps a collection of skin poems. The collection of poems was published in Paris in 1829, and included the pastoral poems of five second-rate poets in16th century. This collection of poems originally belonged to Australian collector and bookseller Edward Patrick and was collected in the National Library on 19 1 1. Researchers have been unable to determine the origin of human skin, because all the genes protein were destroyed in the process of baking human skin.
Skin books have also been found in America. 1883 In Massachusetts, james allen tried to rob a passerby named John, and John was shot while resisting. After his arrest, James was sentenced to death. Before his execution, he made a will: write a biography of the robbery and give it to John with his own skin as the cover to show his apology and respect. The cover of the book reads: "This book is bound with the author's own skin".