Harvard scientists have confirmed a volume in one of its libraries is “without a doubt” bound in human skin after a series of tests conducted on the binding confirmed the origin of the material.

Scientists and conservators used several different methods to test the binding and are now “99.9 per cent” sure the material covering the book, Arsène Houssaye’s Des destinées de l’ame, is of human origin.

A team used a process known as peptide mass fingerprinting to examine microscopic samples of the covering and eliminate the chance that the 19th century book was made out of other binding materials such as sheep or goat skin.

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The binding was then analysed further to determine the order of amino acids, the building blocks of each peptide, which are different in each species.

Bill Lane, the director of the Harvard Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Resource Laboratory, explained: “The PMF from Des destinées de l’ame matched the human reference, and clearly eliminated other common parchment sources, such as sheep, cattle and goat.

“However, although the PMF was consistent with human, other closely related primates, such as the great apes and gibbons, could not be eliminated because of the lack of necessary references.”

Mr Lane added: “The analytical data, taken together with the provenance of Des destinées de l’ame, make it very unlikely that the source could be other than human."

Shape Created with Sketch. Most iconic book covers Show all 12 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Most iconic book covers 1/12 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Francis Cugat designed the cover art for Fitzgerald's quintessential jazz age novel. He finished it before the book was complete and the author liked it so much he 'wrote it into' the novel. 2/12 The Godfather - Mario Puzo This 1969 cover art was produced by S Neil Fujita and became so iconic that the gothic typeface and puppeteer's hand were used as imagery in the film too. 3/12 The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel designed this cartoon for his own 1957 children's classic. 4/12 Fifty Shades of Grey - EL James If this cover to EL James' first erotic novel isn't one of the most iconic sleeves of recent times, we don't know what is. 5/12 The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger Salinger was known for being fussy when it came to his book designs. He liked them simple with the only words being his name and the title, like this one by E Michael Mitchell. 6/12 'Porno' - Irvine Welsh DJ Design came up with this crass cover for Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting sequel that few book-buyers could walk by without noticing. 7/12 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller American jazz musician and designer Paul Bacon created this simple yet striking cover for Heller's novel. He is also the man behind the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Slaughterhouse-Five sleeves. 8/12 One Day - David Nicholls Craig Ward designed this bright romantic sleeve for David Nicholls' 2009 novel. 9/12 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess David Pelham came up with this famous cover ten years after A Clockwork Orange was first published in 1962. 10/12 In Cold Blood - Truman Capote S Neil Fujita designed this crime thriller's sleeve using a classic typeface, a strong black border and a simple drop of blood. The drop was brighter at first but Capote asked for it to be made darker as time had elapsed since the murders. 11/12 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck Illustrator Elmer Hader painted this by Steinbeck's request for his 1939 novel. He then created the cover art for East of Eden and The Winter of Our Discontent, too. 12/12 Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison Edward McKnight Kauffer's powerful artwork represents the protagonist who is struggling to assert his identity in a world of hate. 1/12 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Francis Cugat designed the cover art for Fitzgerald's quintessential jazz age novel. He finished it before the book was complete and the author liked it so much he 'wrote it into' the novel. 2/12 The Godfather - Mario Puzo This 1969 cover art was produced by S Neil Fujita and became so iconic that the gothic typeface and puppeteer's hand were used as imagery in the film too. 3/12 The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel designed this cartoon for his own 1957 children's classic. 4/12 Fifty Shades of Grey - EL James If this cover to EL James' first erotic novel isn't one of the most iconic sleeves of recent times, we don't know what is. 5/12 The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger Salinger was known for being fussy when it came to his book designs. He liked them simple with the only words being his name and the title, like this one by E Michael Mitchell. 6/12 'Porno' - Irvine Welsh DJ Design came up with this crass cover for Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting sequel that few book-buyers could walk by without noticing. 7/12 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller American jazz musician and designer Paul Bacon created this simple yet striking cover for Heller's novel. He is also the man behind the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Slaughterhouse-Five sleeves. 8/12 One Day - David Nicholls Craig Ward designed this bright romantic sleeve for David Nicholls' 2009 novel. 9/12 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess David Pelham came up with this famous cover ten years after A Clockwork Orange was first published in 1962. 10/12 In Cold Blood - Truman Capote S Neil Fujita designed this crime thriller's sleeve using a classic typeface, a strong black border and a simple drop of blood. The drop was brighter at first but Capote asked for it to be made darker as time had elapsed since the murders. 11/12 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck Illustrator Elmer Hader painted this by Steinbeck's request for his 1939 novel. He then created the cover art for East of Eden and The Winter of Our Discontent, too. 12/12 Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison Edward McKnight Kauffer's powerful artwork represents the protagonist who is struggling to assert his identity in a world of hate.

According to Heather Cole, Assistant Curator of Modern Books & Manuscripts a note detailing its origin inserted inside the book revealed the human skin used to bind the book was taken from the back of a female mental patient who had died of a stroke.

The note, from Dr. Ludovic Bouland, states: “A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering: I had kept this piece of human skin taken from the back of a woman."

Anthropodermic bibliopegy, the formal name for the practice of binding books with human skin, has occurred since at least the 16th century.

There are many accounts of occurrences in the 19th century in which the bodies of executed criminals were given to science, and the skins were the passed onto tanners and bookbinders, according to the University.

College newspaper The Crimson said in 2006 that it believed at least three of the 15 million volumes in its libraries were thought to be bound this way.

Testing later confirmed the other two books the Harvard Law School Library and the Harvard Medical School’s Countway Library were actually bound in sheepskin.