Treasure-seekers, look no further: X marks the spot at the John Hay Library at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. To walk through the wooden doors into the historic stone building is to enter another world, an impeccable library filled with tons of artifacts and ancient books.
The John Hay Library has four anthropodermic books in its collection. Bound in human skin (yes, real human skin), they are the crown jewels of the library’s rare book collection.
The first title is De humani corporis fabrica, or On the Structure of the Human Body, for those of us who don’t speak Latin.
It is an anatomy book that was first published in 1543 by Andreas Vesalius.
Mademoiselle Giraud, my wife, a fiction novel by Adolphe Belot is another title that is considered as human remains due to its binding.
They are also in possession of two athropodermically-bound copies of Dance of Death by Hans Holbein the Younger, which is a collection of woodcuts depicting Death from 1538.
Science-fiction fans will be excited to hear that the library also holds HP Lovecraft’s manuscripts and personal letters.
There are over 2,000 original Lovecraftian works and over 1,000 books relating to the man in the library’s collection.
The library is open to the public, but certain titles, such as the skin-bound books, are under restricted-access status.
However, there are over 300 special collections in the library that will keep visitors enthralled for hours. It houses over 1.5 million archival files and artifacts, such as Napoleon’s death mask and Babylonian clay tablets.
The library opened in 1910 and was named after John Hay, Brown University Class Poet of 1858 and personal assistant to Abraham Lincoln.
The John Hay Library is located at 20 Prospect Street in Providence, Rhode Island, where it exists as a timeless salute to the past and all its eccentricities.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Get the latest updates and news
Thank you for subscribing!
