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The Resourceress

A Librarian's Blog

Spine Tingling Books

5/12/2021

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Picture
Picture
PictureThe cover of the Codex Gigas, or Devil’s Bible.
In a year where Halloween will have masks of a different kind, and fear is all too present, I decided  some spooky stories about books from the distant past might distract us for a spell.  
​

On a dark and chilly December evening in Edinburgh, Scotland, I visited the Surgeons’ Hall  Museums and found it deserted. I looked into a glass case that held a pocketbook which stated  that it was “bound with William Burke’s skin.” William Burke and William Hare were entrepreneurial  resurrection men turned serial killers in Victorian Edinburgh. After his execution, Burke’s skin was  apparently used to bind this gruesome souvenir. This strange visit to the museum is what led me to  do more research on the infamous practice of anthopodermic bibliopegy (books bound in human  skin).  

According to some scholars, the earliest known anthropodermic book was a French Bible from the  13th century, but most proven examples are from the late 16th through the 18th century. But WHY  would anyone do such a macabre thing?  

There were several reasons:  
1. For punishment. Many skin books are bound in the skin of executed criminals. Sometimes their confessions would be bound with their skin. Father Henry Garnet heard the confessions of many involved in the Gunpowder Plot (a plan to blow up the houses of Parliament in 1605) with Guy Fawkes. Because he didn’t report the confessions, he was hanged, drawn, quartered and had his skin removed to bind the book A True and Perfect  Relation. The impression of Garnet’s face is on the front cover. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but many of these book covers have been judged! 

2. Collectors wanted something unusual to impress friends – in the 18th & 19th century
these items would be considered curios for their collection. 

3. People bound books in human skin to memorialize the dead. Some folks gave consent to have their skin used for this purpose. Medical consent, as we know it today, is a relatively modern concept. One criminal was so impressed with a man he robbed, but who fought him bravely, that he wanted to show penance. He asked that the memoir he wrote in prison be bound with his skin after his death and presented to “the only man who ever stood up to him.” The Highwayman Narrative is available for viewing at the Boston Athenaeum. The cover reads “Hic Liber Waltonis Cute Compactus Est:” “This book was bound in Walton’s  skin.” 
​

4. Medical books were also bound in cadaver skin as a way of doctors thanking their patients for helping them learn. 

There are many book inscriptions claiming to be bound in human skin, but they often turn out to  be false. The Anthropodermic Book Project (ABP) is a project that hopes to create a census of all  the works of anthropodermic bibliopegy. Esteemed scientists from the fields of forensic  anthropology, medical librarianship, and chemistry are working to verify whether books claiming to  be bound in human skin actually are. So far their tally runs as follows:  
     o 49 books have been rumored to be bound in human skin;  
     o 32 of these have been tested;  
     o 18 books have been confirmed to be bound in human skin; and  
     o 14 have been proved to be covered in leather from pigs, cows or sheep. In some cases it may  be            that they were formerly bound in human skin and a new owner decided to have it  rebound.  
There are many libraries that have possible works of anthropodermic bibliopegy, in addition to  those mentioned above.  

What are the ethics around keeping these books in a library or museum? Are these books  considered human remains, and if so, how should the remains be dealt with? Do modern medical  guidelines apply? While the Society of American Archivists and other professional associations  have no approved policies for dealing with human remains of this type, the library field is  committed to working on best practices for handling sensitive materials like anthropodermic  books/bindings. No one has all the answers yet, it will likely be an evolving issue for many years to  come.  

OTHER MYSTERIOUS BOOKS TO GIVE YOU A FRIGHT!  
The Codex Gigas (Latin for Giant book), also called The Devil’s Bible, is said to be a cursed tome  created in the 13th century in a Benedictine monastery in Bohemia. This massive book is 310 pages  long (10 pages are missing), measures 36”x20”x9,” weighs 165 pounds, and it is estimated to have  taken 160 donkey or calf skins to make. It is bound in leather with metal bosses and is the largest  Medieval illuminated manuscript in the world! It is believed to have been written by a single scribe  and would have taken at least 20 years to complete, if not longer. Legend has it that a monk, named Herman the Recluse, broke his vows and was sentenced to be bricked into the walls of the  
monastery and left to starve, but just before the last brick was added, he asked for mercy. He promised to compile a book of all the world's knowledge in one night. Herman knew he couldn’t  
do it alone, so he offered his soul to the devil in exchange for his help. In gratitude for helping him complete the work and save his life, Herman created a full page portrait of the devil. The  
illustration of the devil faces a page depicting the kingdom of heaven. The book is often displayed open to these pages, so people can view the contrast between good and evil. Legends of a curse have followed the codex throughout its history. In 1477, the monastery that owned the codex was so   impoverished they had to sell it, and soon after that the monastery burned down. Then, in 1593, the new owners of the book lent it to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, and he never  returned it. Librarians can relate. Soon after that he was removed from the throne, and rightfully so. During the Thirty Years War the Swedish Army seized the codex and brought it to  the Royal Library in Stockholm. In 1697, a fire engulfed the library, but the codex was saved after it was thrown out a window, injuring a person who was walking below. This amazing manuscript also survived the inquisition, despite its depiction of  Satan. You can still visit this extraordinary work in Sweden today,  if you dare.  

The Voynich Manuscript is unusual because no one has  been able to read it yet! Carbon dated to between 1404- 1430, this 200 page, error-free tome is one of the most  mysterious manuscripts in the world, baffling scholars for  generations. Many codebreakers and language experts  have studied the writing using mathematical databases to  determine if it could be an actual language and have  concluded that it is in a nonsense script, written  convincingly as if it was a human language. Some scientists  theorized it was written by Leonardo Da Vinci, but the  dates don’t line up. Others thought that it was written in an  obscure South East Asian language to hide scientifically  blasphemous information from the inquisition. The  illustrations imply that it is some kind of medical book, as it  talks a lot about herbs, plants and star charts, all  necessary to treat patients in medieval times. It is named  after the Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1909 and  spent his whole life trying to decipher it. Books of this  nature were very valuable, so the most likely explanation is  that it is a fantasy document, written by someone who  wanted to make money, perhaps by claiming the book had  magical healing powers. I will be visiting this fascinating manuscript next summer when I attend  Rare Book School at Yale’s Beinecke Library. I will let you know what it says.  
​

There are so many mysterious books you can get lost in while in isolation. Check out the Ripley  scroll, the Rohonc codex, the Popol Vuh, the Great Omar, the Book of Soyga, Codex Seraphinianus,  the Beale Ciphers, The Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis, Shadows from the Walls of Death (do not touch  this particular poisonous book!).  

There are 130 million books on the planet, but I totally understand if some of you now want to stick  with your e-readers!                                                     


This article was first published in the Hawaii Library Association's Fall 2020 Newsletter, Kolekole
                          
                                               Further Reading/Bibliography  
o Association of College and Research Librarians. “Code of Ethics for Special Collections  Librarians,” RBMS—Rare Books & Manuscripts Section, October 2003.  
http://rbms.info/standards/code_of_ethics/ 
o Braun, David Max. “Devil's Bible Darkest Secrets Explained.” National Geographic Society  Newsroom, January 12, 2018. https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2008/12/17/devils-bible darkest-secrets-explained/. 
o Davis, Simon. “Let’s Talk About Binding Books with Human Skin.”  
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/exm3bk/binding-books-with-human-skin-135 o Fleischaker, Julia. Books Bound in Human Skin Are More Common Than You Think.”  Mobylives. https://www.mhpbooks.com/books-bound-in-human-skin-are-more-common than-you-think/ 
o Gordon, Jacob. “In the Flesh? Anthropodermic Bibliopegy Verification and Its Implications.”  RBM, https://rbm.acrl.org/index.php/rbm/article/view/9664 
o Schuessler, Jennifer. Harvard Confirms Book Is Bound in Human Skin.  
https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/05/harvard-confirms-book-is-bound-in-human skin/ 
o Society of American Archivists “Code of Ethics for Archivists,” SAA Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics, (revised 2012). http://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values statement-and-code-of-ethics#code_of_ethics 
o “Voynich Manuscript.” Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, May 21, 2020.  https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/highlights/voynich-manuscript. 
Storm Stoker is a Technical Services Support Specialist  
in the Law Library at UH-Mānoa's William S. Richardson School of Law. 

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A Red Letter Day

5/10/2021

1 Comment

 

Posted on April 2, 2020- William S. Richardson School of Law Library BLog
By Storm Stoker

Do you have a special day, week, or month you want recognized every year? Maybe you want April 30th to be National Coffee Day.  Many nonprofits seek a declaration of a national day, week, or month to bring awareness to their cause and raise money.  For example, in the library field, this month we will have National Library Week from April 19-25, 2020. The theme this year is “Find your place at the library.” Sadly, this year because of the pandemic, your “place at the library” may be online only, though students can still access our campus libraries for the time being.  I hope this year shows everyone just how valuable libraries are, as patrons continue to access ebooks, movies, music, video games, virtual storytimes, and activities, reference, research help and so much more, from the safety of their homes.

There are a couple different ways to get a day, week, or month recognized nationally. You can submit an application to the  National Day Calendar, but of the 20,000 applications they receive per year; only about 35 are honored and they only honor applications that come from organizations.  There go my plans for creating National Buy Storm Stoker A Coffee Day. Drat!

When I was on the board of the Association of Hawaiʻi Archivists, we wanted the governor to recognize October as National Archives Month. The governor of each state will recognize events with a day, week, or month if they have a significant impact for residents of that state.  They also do this to raise awareness about a worthy cause.  It was AHA’s 30th anniversary, so we wrote up a proclamation using the template provided on the governor’s website and if your request meets all the guidelines, as ours did, your application gets approved. You receive your document with an official seal for display, and you can even request that, schedule permitting, the governor attend an event that you have in association with your proclamation.

So why are special days or holidays called “red letter days?” In medieval manuscripts, the feast days or special days on the calendar were written in red ink.  The first letter or capital was often intricate to highlight or explain the special meaning of that day.  The practice continued even after the invention of the printing press when printing Catholic liturgical books. Even today calendars still indicate special dates and holidays in red rather than black ink, a practice that goes back as far as 500 B.C. A red or scarlet day is always a good day, so I hope today is a red letter day for all of you.

Red Letter Days for April:
1 April Fool’s Day 1 International Tatting Day
2 National Burrito day and National Ferret Day
3 National Walk to Work Day 
1st Friday 5 Palm Sunday
8 Passover begins at sundown, lasts 8 days.
10 Good Friday
12 Easter Sunday
13 National Scrabble Day
19-25 National Library Week 20 Patriot’s Day
20 Ramadan begins
22 Earth Day (U.S.)
22 Administrative Professionals Day
23 Take Your Daughter to Work Day
24 Arbor Day
26 National Pretzel Day
30 National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day
​
Holiday Insights, http://www.holidayinsights.com (retrieved 4/1/20)

Picture
Example of Medieval Manuscript, red letter days References British Library, https://www.bl.uk/medieval-english-french-manuscripts/articles/medieval-calendars (retrieved 4/1/20)
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