"Apologize to us"

Harvard University removes human skin from book

Harvard University

(Bild: AP)

The elite US university Harvard is currently making headlines with a book cover - because it is made of human skin. The educational institution has since removed it and admitted that it had made mistakes in the past.

The university library in Cambridge (US state of Massachusetts) announced on Wednesday (local time) that it is now conducting further investigations into the book and the anonymous patient whose skin was used for the cover. It will consult with the relevant authorities "to determine a final, respectful location for these human remains".

The book had made headlines in 2014 when an investigation revealed that it was bound in human skin. It is a copy of "Des destinées de l'âme" (On the Destinies of the Soul), first published by French author Arsène Houssaye in 1879, according to the Harvard Library.

Doctor used skin from patient
The first owner of the book was a French doctor. He bound the book with skin "that he had taken without consent from the body of a deceased patient in the hospital where he worked", the university library explained in a statement. The book has been in the library's collections since 1934 and is housed in the Houghton Library - one of the university's many libraries.

After a careful examination, it was concluded that the human remains used for the book cover no longer belong in the library collections, it said. As justification, the library referred, among other things, to the "ethically questionable history of the book's creation".

It admitted that it had made mistakes in handling the book in the past. These had further objectified and impaired the dignity of the people concerned. "We apologize to those who were harmed by these actions."