Anthropodermic Book Collection
The John Hay Library is well known for its collection of anthropodermic books (books bound in human skin). The Hay acquired the books in the 1960s as gifts from two alumni, at least one an avid book collector. The books were not originally bound in human skin, but were instead rebound for private collectors in the 19th century. The library has three such human-skin books:
- De Humanis Corporis Fabrica (Andreas Vesalius, 1543)
- Dance of Death (two copies), featuring wood-cut illustrations by Hans Holbein the Younger
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Famous quotes containing the words book and/or collection:
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalms 90:10.
The Book of Common Prayer (1662)
“The Nature of Familiar Letters, written, as it were, to the Moment, while the Heart is agitated by Hopes and Fears, on Events undecided, must plead an Excuse for the Bulk of a Collection of this Kind. Mere Facts and Characters might be comprised in a much smaller Compass: But, would they be equally interesting?”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)