Harvard University removed human skin from a book's binding after the skin was taken without consent from a dead patient at a French psychiatric hospital.
A review by the library determined the remains on the cover of its copy of Des destinées de l'âme no longer belonged in the library's collection, citing ethical concerns, according to the Ivy League school.
The rare work is a meditation on the soul and life after death, and was first published in 1879 by French author Arsène Houssay, the university said.
Des destinées de l'âme's first owner, Dr. Ludovic Bouland, a French physician, later bound the book with the skin of a deceased female patient, taken without her permission.
"A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering," Bouland wrote in a memo accompanying the book, according to the school.
Harvard's Houghton Library formally acquired the book from the widow of alumnus John B. Stetson Jr., in 1954.
The book's binding was first confirmed to be human in 2014.
"The core problem with the volume's creation was a doctor who didn't see a whole person in front of him and carried out an odious act of removing a piece of skin from a deceased patient, almost certainly without consent, and used it in a book binding that has been handled by many for more than a century," Tom Hyry, Associate University Librarian for Archives and Special Collections, said, according to the school.
"We apologize on behalf of Harvard Library for past failures in our stewardship of the book that further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being at the center," he said.
"We are determined to move forward with care, sensitivity, and ethical responsibility and are committed to best practices in the field, including reflection and correcting historical errors," added Hyry.
The book is available digitally to the public.
The library is consulting with authorities on how to lay the remains to rest.
