Book Apparently Bound in Human Skin Found, in Leeds, northern England:
Much of the text is in French, and it was not uncommon around the time of the French Revolution for books to be covered in human skin.The practice, known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, was sometimes used in the 18th and 19th centuries when accounts of murder trials were bound in the killer’s skin.
Anatomy books also were sometimes bound in the skin of a dissected cadaver. In World War II, Nazis were accused of using the skin from Holocaust victims to bind books.
In a brief statement, West Yorkshire police said the ledger, which contained handwriting in black ink, appears to date back to the 1700s, and they appealed to anyone who may be able to help identify the owners of the item to contact authorities.
Again, such books aren’t uncommon. Some of the best libraries have books bound in human skin.