Legal Research

I Bet Your Civ. Pro. Book Doesn?t Look So Bad Now, Does It?

By Serene

The Harvard Library System is home to many rare and unusual books.  Some books, however, are more unusual than others.  An article from the Harvard Law Reporter describes many books in Harvard’s collection, including some law books, that are known to be bound in human skin.  A Spanish legal treatise from the 1600s bears an inscription which indicates that the binding is “all that remains of my deare friende Jonas Wright.” At one time it seems human skin book binding was all the rage.  Medical books were commonly bound with this material as were accounts of trials and biographies of criminals.  It seems hard to believe that with the popularity of this once acceptable practice the ASU Law Library doesn’t own any of these specimens, or does it?  Have you been to our library’s Rare Book Collection in the basement…?

Full post as published by Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog on September 23, 2008 (boomark / email).