By Katherine Itoh -
NBC News
Harvard University on Wednesday removed human skin from the binding of the book
Des Destinées de L'âme
(The Destinies of the Soul) at Houghton Library, after a review found ethical problems with the book's origin and history.
French physician Dr. Ludovic Bouland “bound the book with skin he took, without consent, from the body of a deceased patient at a hospital where he worked,” according to the Harvard Library.
Harvard University flags on campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Michael Fein/Bloomberg via Getty Images file
Bouland included a handwritten note inside stating that
“a book about the human soul deserved to have a human cover
,” university librarian Thomas Hyry said in an interview. The note also detailed the process of preparing the leather for binding.
The removal was prompted by a library review following a Harvard University report on human remains in its museum collections.
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“The Harvard Library and the Harvard Museum Collections Return Committee have concluded that the human remains used in the book's binding no longer belong in Harvard Library collections, due to the ethically sensitive nature of the origins of the book and its subsequent history,” the library stated in a statement on Wednesday.
Anne-Marie Eze, associate librarian at Houghton Library, explained in the statement that the removed skin is now “in a secure location in the Harvard Library.”
The library will conduct additional research on the book, Bouland and the anonymous patient. He is also working with French authorities to determine a
“skin-friendly final disposition
,” she said.
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Bouland received his copy of Des
Destinées de L'âme
from the author, Arsène Houssaye, in the early 1880s. The book has been part of the Harvard Library collection since 1934, deposited by John B. Stetson Jr. philanthropist and Businessman.