Gabby Cooksey
Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin. Design binding in tan goat skin, leather hinges and flyleaf/pastedown paper by Maziarczyk Paperworks, tattooed text and decorative elements in black ink, sewn silk end bands, custom clamshell box.
“The design binding of Dark Archives started with the question ‘What if…’. What if I could tattoo a book? Can you even tattoo a book? How can I be respectful of the contents of the book while learning a completely different trade? With those questions, and armed with imagery from the book and a new tattoo gun, I pursued a tattoo salon in my bindery. Blowing up the title, mirroring it made it feel like a chest or forearm tattoo while making the corner tattoos felt ornamental to traditional book design. Merging the two fields was a joy to learn and conveying what I wanted with Dark Archives.” [artist statement] (#10810)
[On loan from the Rare Book Department, Free Library of Philadelphia]
Gabby Cooksey 
Corner detail 
Rear board 
Front board 
Inking the skin