Book bound in human skin found in Bury St Edmunds museum

A book tied in the skin of one of the most notorious murderers in the United Kingdom is to be exhibited after being found in the office of a museum.

It is understood that the work is done with the skin of William Corder, the man convicted of killing Maria Marten in the murder of Red Barn in 1827, and will be exhibited along with a similar article at the Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St edmunds, Suffolk.

Dan Clarke, heritage officer, said the books had an “incredible” historical value and that he never had a complaint about the first exhibition.

However, Terry Deary, author of Horrible History, described them as “disgusting artifacts,” and added: “These are two books that I would like to burn.”

The history of 1827 murder in Polstead, Suffolk, shocked Great Britain.

Since then, he has the theme of many films, books, plays and popular songs.

The most commonly told version is that Corder had an adventure with Miss Marten.

He told him to meet him at the Barn Red, a local milestone, saying that they escaped to Pswich to marry.

But Corder shot and killed Miss Marten, burying her in the barn.

It was possible to be trapped and publicly executed on August 11, 1828.

His body was dissected and part of his skin was used to join a book to tell the story of his judgment.

This book was well on display in the museum in 1933.

But recent curators looked through the museum catalog and realized that there was a second book that had overlooked the leg.

He had donated his leg for decades a family with close connections with the surgeon who anatomated Corder’s body.

The book was located, not in the museum stores, but on an office shelf, along with other books linked to more traditional materials.

Clarke said: “We obtained things called losses of the museum, and tends to be from the last century, things that do not have a leg for a couple of decades.

“This would consult a loss of museum that has been found.”

Unlike Corder’s first book, the skin is alone in the binding and the corners of the book.

Cover books in human skin is known as Anthropodermic Bibliopegy.

The books were created in the nineteenth century to punish the prisoners executed or by doctors who wanted a memory.

Deary, whose Horry History series has sold millions worldwide and has become a TV franchise, said Corder had been convicted of circumstantial evidence and suffered terrible as a result.

In the articles of the museum, he said: “I know that you are not supposed to burn books, but honestly are such disgusting artfacts.

“What was worse than the hanger was the idea that his body would dissect after death, and this is an extension of that.”

In March 2024, Harvard University eliminated skin binding Of a book of the nineteenth century in its library “due to the nature of the ethiicho of the origins of the book and the sub -sequence.”

But Moyse’s Hall staff said it would not happen to any of his books, which are now exhibited together.

Clarke said: “We see human remains in all museums throughout the country.”

In his 11 years in the museum, he said, there was not one leg one complaint about the first book, but bones were raised about mummified cats as part of an exhibition of witchcraft.

The ABBIE Smith heritage assistant was able to sustain the books on their first day at work and said they felt “as a real book.”

“If you didn’t tell the people who were tied in human skin, I really don’t think you would realize,” he said.

“It is also quite humiliating to have something like that in the collection.”