RUSSELL-KILLOUGH (Henry Patrice Marie) Count - Lot 554

RUSSELL-KILLOUGH (Henry Patrice Marie) Count Souvenirs of a Montagnard. Second edition, revised and corrected. Pau, Vignancour, 1908. In-8: 738pp, 1f; frontispiece portrait "dans le sac de peaux d'agneaux". Copy with a large albumen photograph of Count Henry Russell and Baron de Lassus (1894) on the flyleaf, a photographic reproduction of Count Russell, 3 small photographs of the Count, including one "in his bag of lambskins" (similar to the frontispiece, but seen from a different angle), and a reproduction of a drawing by Gabard showing Russell in the mountains with his walking stick. Some marginal annotations in black ink. Soft green basane (mounted leather without boards), gilt title on lightened spine. Prof. Labarère spoke of this book, specifying that the cover was made from human skin (the skin of a soldier brought back from the Crimea), something we strongly doubt and cannot certify. It is in fact impossible to determine precisely whether a cover is made of human skin, the most reliable means of verification being Peptide Mass Fingerprinting (PMF), in which a tiny sample of the binding and the collagen present in the leather are extracted for analysis by mass spectrometry. The result is then used to identify the variety of proteins characteristic of different living species. It's up to the purchaser to carry out this analysis if they so wish. Books in human skin are not as rare as one might suppose. All the major libraries have this type of book (it's mainly medical works or Dances of Death that have benefited from this type of binding). Of the 80 or so analyses carried out to date on books claimed to have been made from human skins, only around 30 have been positive. There was no corroborating note or paper in the book at the time, and no scientific analysis. These books were often ordered long in advance by their owners, and were often intended for or commissioned by doctors (especially in the 19th century) (see online article "The strange history of books bound in human skin" and "Connaissance de la reliure : des reliures en peau humaine"). It is highly unlikely that these "Souvenirs" could have benefited from "this type of treatment". Heavily enlarged definitive edition, the last in the author's lifetime. This is the third edition to be printed and the second to be sold. (Labarère 1391)(Lespy 371)