whatilearned
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Allen_(highwayman)
TIL Massachusetts highwayman James Allen’s deathbed confession was later copied into a book bound by his own skin.
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Oh excuse me, *FUCKING WHAT?*
What Lawrence Thompson called “the most famous of all anthropodermic bindings” is exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, titled The Highwayman: Narrative of the Life of James Allen alias George Walton. It is by James Allen, who made his deathbed confession in prison in 1837 and asked for a copy bound in his own skin to be presented to a man he once tried to rob and admired for his bravery, and another one for his doctor.[17] Once he died, a piece of his back was taken to a tannery and utilized for the book.[18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropodermic_bibliopegy
James Allen requested the book be bound like that. They didn’t just do that for the hell of it.