A book to make your skin crawl...

I found on the Drudge Report today a link entitled, "Ancient Book May Be Covered in Human Skin..." This piqued my interested, because "books" in the ancient Mediterranean were originally made with papyrus (into rolls) and then also with wood and wax (as notebooks, as the work could be "erased"). Then came the transition from roll to codex, when paper was made from worked vellum (calfskin, kidskin, or lambskin). By the Middle Ages, the vellum codex was the way to go-- the baby farm animal skin made a smooth and durable writing surface.

But human skin? I had never heard of such a thing in the ancient world! Here is the link to the article. You'll notice that the "ancient" book is only 300 years old! The OED gives the first definition of ancient as "old," so technically, 300 years ago could be considered "ancient." I'm fine with that, but I'm much more comfortable with the second definition: "2. esp. Which existed in, or belonged to, times long past, or early in the world's history; old." I like that "especially."

And the third is the best: "3. a. Specifically applied to the period of history before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In this sense contrasted with modern, and medieaval. b. Concerning or relating to ancient times."

By the way, the Yorkshire Police article is appropriately more subdued about the "human skin" aspect of the book. And here are some pictures.