Antique book fair features human-skin-bound book

Boston has been abound in book fairs lately, but none have yet to feature a text made out of actual human skin.

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair kicked off this week, and amongst the rare and aged texts you can find Hans Holbein’s “Dance of Death,” in an 1813 reprint of the original 1538 text, uniquelly bound in the epidermis of a looong dead human.

The book features images of different ways to die. Speaking to the Boston Herald, the seller of the book, Mike Wessels, said it was meant to convey the notion that “death comes for everyone.” To drive the point home, the book itself is actually dead.

Wessels adds that “by thinking about one’s impending death, the reader would be prompted to live a better life.”