Books Bound in Human Skin
-
Books Bound in Human Skin: An Ethical Quandary at the Library
Harvard’s recent decision to remove the binding of a notorious volume in its library has thrown fresh light on a shadowy corner of the rare book world.Emotional recoil aside, it just doesn't look to me like human skin is thick or sturdy enough to make book covers.
-
From the article:
But others are troubled by what they see as the destruction of a historical artifact, and the imposition of 21st-century sensibilities onto objects from different times and contexts.
Kind of my thoughts. People got all mad when the Taliban destoryed all those historic carved statues in Afghanistan, but in their mind it was justfied.
-
I agree. The past is what it is. Much of it is indeed troubling. Yet to judge it or its legacy as if it were happening in the present is sheer ignorance.