Harvard will remove binding made of human skin from 1800s book

University says first owner of book by French novelist took the skin from a deceased female patient without consent

Harvard University has said it will be removing the binding made of human skin from a 19th century book held in its library because of the “ethically fraught nature” of how the unusual binding took place.

The book, called Des Destinées de l’Ame (or Destinies of the Soul), has been held at the university’s Houghton Library since the 1930s but drew international attention in 2014 when tests confirmed that it was bound in human skin.