A book owned by Harvard University library recently revealed its grisly history, when scientists confirmed that it was bound in human skin.

Staff at the university believe that the book, Des Destinees de l'Ame (Destinies of the Soul), was covered with the skin of an unclaimed female mental patient who died of natural causes. Writer Arsene Houssaye is said to have given the book in the mid 1880s to his friend, Dr Ludovic Bouland, who apparently carried out the unusual binding.

Covering books in human skin, known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, was a particular subject of interest in the 19th Century, although it is understood the practice goes back further.

One of the few surviving examples in the UK is owned by the Bristol Record Office and made from the skin of the first man to be hanged at Bristol Gaol. Its embossed dark brown cover was made with the skin of 18-year-old John Horwood, who was hanged for the murder of Eliza Balsum.

The book contains the details of the 1821 crime, when Horwood, who had become infatuated with Balsum and previously threatened to kill her, threw a stone at her while she was walking to a well to fetch water. According to the book, Horwood "took up a large stone and with the utmost savage ferocity nearly beat her skull to pieces". Balsum's screams brought her friends running, and she was taken to hospital, where she died from the head injury.

Following his trial and execution, Horwood's corpse was dissected by surgeon Richard Smith during a public lecture at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Smith then decided to have part of Horwood's skin tanned to bind a collection of papers about the case. The cover of the book was embossed with a skull and crossbones, with the words "Cutis Vera Johannis Horwood", meaning "the actual skin of John Horwood", added in gilt letters...