Please join us on Monday, October 26 at 6pm (EST) for a virtual book event featuring librarian and author Megan Rosenbloom as she discusses her new book, Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin.
Event Registration
This event has already taken place.
About the Book
In Dark Archives, Megan Rosenbloom seeks out the historic and scientific truths behind anthropodermic bibliopegy, or books bound in human skin. She exhumes their origins and brings to life the doctors, murderers, women, and indigents whose lives are bound together in this rare, scattered, and disquieting collection. She also tells the story of the scientists, curators, and librarians who—interested in the full complicated histories behind these dark artifacts of nineteenth-century medicine—are developing tests to identify these books, while also sorting through the ethics of their custodianship.
While supplies last, pre-order signed copies of the book (featuring an original bookplate designed by Landis Blair) can be purchased online from Skylight Books Los Angeles. Unsigned pre-order copies are also available from Bookshop, IndieBound, and the publisher.
About the Author
Megan Rosenbloom is the Collection Strategies Librarian at the UCLA Library in Los Angeles. Previously, she worked as medical librarian for many years, where she developed an interest in the history of medicine and rare books. Megan is Obituary Editor for the Journal of the Medical Library Association, President of the Southern California Society for the History of Medicine, and is actively involved in the Medical Library Association and other professional organizations. In 2016, she received the Library Journal’s Mover & Shaker Award. Megan is also the co-founder and director of Death Salon, the event arm of The Order of the Good Death, and a leader in the “Death Positive” movement. In a former life, she was a journalist in Philadelphia and continues to write for both academic and non-academic publications.
This event is cosponsored by the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Ruth Lilly Medical Library and the Indiana Medical History Museum.