Anthropodermic bibliopegy

Anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. As of April 2016, The Anthropodermic Book Project "has identified 47 alleged anthropodermic books in the world's libraries and museums. Of those, 30 books have been tested or are in the process of being tested. Seventeen of the books have been confirmed as having human skin bindings and nine were proven to be not of human origin but of sheep, pig, cow, or other animals." (The confirmed figures as of September 2016 have increased to 18 bindings identified as human and 12 disproved.)

Bibliopegy (/bɪblɪˈɒpɪdʒi/ bib-li-OP-i-jee) is a rare synonym for bookbinding. It combines the Ancient Greek βιβλίον (biblion = book) and πηγία (pegia, from pegnynai = to fasten). The earliest reference in the Oxford English Dictionary dates from 1876; Merriam-Webster gives the date of first use as circa 1859 and the OED records an instance of bibliopegist for a bookbinder from 1824.

The word anthropodermic, combining the Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (anthropos = man or human) and δέρμα (derma = skin), does not appear in the Oxford English Dictionary and appears never to be used in contexts other than bookbinding. The practice of binding a book in the skin of its author - as with The Highwayman, discussed below - has been called 'autoanthropodermic bibliopegy'.

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