Anthropodermic Bibliopegy

The Langdell Law Library at Harvard University contains a book bound in human skin. Practicarum Quaestionum Circa Leges Regias Hispaniae, a treaty of Spanish law, contains this inscription on the last page:

The bynding of this booke is all that remains of my deare friende Jonas Wright, who was flayed alive by the Wavuma on the Fourth Day of August, 1632. King btesa did give me the book, it being one of poore Jonas chiefe possessions, together with ample of his skin to bynd it. Requiescat in pace.

The Wavuma were an African tribe in what is now Zimbabwe.

| Oddities

Hope Springs Eternal

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Eagle%22.crashed3.png

Too much optimism is a bad thing. In 1897, Swedish engineer S.A. Andrée planned to reach the North Pole in a leaky and untested balloon, steering only by dragging ropes. He and two companions lifted off from Svalbard in July, drifted north and disappeared for 33 years.

It wasn’t until 1930 that their last camp was discovered — they had crashed after only two days and spent three freezing months trying to walk home.

“Morale remains good,” Andrée had written before his diary became incoherent. “With such comrades as these, one ought to be able to manage under practically any circumstances whatsoever.”

| History · Oddities · Technology

Sergeant Stubby

John Robert Conroy may have regretted bringing his bull terrier to France in World War I — the dog became the star of his unit. It won:

  • 3 Service Stripes
  • Yankee Division YD Patch
  • French Medal, Battle of Verdun
  • 1st Annual American Legion Convention Medal, Minneapolis
  • New Haven World War I Veterans Medal
  • Republic of France Grande War Medal
  • St. Mihiel Campaign Medal
  • Purple Heart (retroactive)
  • Chateau Thierry Campaign Medal
  • 6th Annual American Legion Convention
  • Humane Education Society Gold Medal

I’m not making any of that up. “Sergeant Stubby” fought in the trenches for a year and a half, warning of poison gas attacks, finding wounded soldiers, and listening for incoming shells. He met Woodrow Wilson and John Pershing, was wounded several times, and even learned to salute. His remains are on display at the Smithsonian.

| History · Oddities