A second copy of a book bound in the skin of a notorious 19th-century murderer is now on display at a Suffolk museum.
However, Horrible Histories creator Terry Deary has told the Guardian that the volume is a “particularly sick” artefact which “shouldn’t be on display”.
William Corder was convicted of murdering his lover, Maria Marten, in what became known as the Red Barn Murder of 1827.
Corder was publicly executed the following year before being dissected. Some of his skin was used to bind a book about his trial which was passed to Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds in the mid 1930s.
However, a second copy of the book – believed to feature Corder’s skin on its spine and corners – was discovered last year on a bookshelf of the museum’s office, and is now on display alongside the original book. The second copy is believed to have been donated around 20 years ago.
The case has spawned many film, radio and stage versions. “The murder continues to be interpreted and reinterpreted in popular culture to this day,” said Daniel Clarke, heritage officer at West Suffolk council.
“The facts have been blurred into near obscurity” with nearly 200 years of the tale’s retelling, states the museum’s website. Corder reportedly proposed meeting Marten at the Red Barn in Polstead, Suffolk, and eloping to Ipswich from there. He was later found guilty of murdering Marten at the barn.
Deary, whose books have sold tens of millions of copies, said that the conviction was based on circumstantial evidence, and that Corder is a “very misunderstood man”. The displayed skin-bound books are “very disrespectful to Corder’s memory”.
“I feel guilty because I have played Corder,” said Deary, who is also an actor. “I’ve got photographs of me threatening poor Maria Marten with a gun.”
Deary has written a novel due to be released next year – titled Actually, I’m a Corpse – based on this experience, in which the hero plays Corder before realising “how badly the poor man’s been maligned”. He said that he would like to “restore Corder’s reputation”.
Clarke said that the museum does not “deal with this as a salacious artefact but as a window into the past”. Items connected to the murder are positioned opposite a late 18th-century gibbet cage, used to display hanging corpses.
Together, the objects allow discussion and interpretation of the Bloody Code – laws that imposed the death penalty for many crimes – said Clarke.
“Do we think all books bound in skin should be on display? That would be debated on a case-by-case basis,” said Clarke. “In this instance, it is a stark and emotive set of artefacts that give us the chance to discuss the anatomising of the criminal corpse. Uncomfortable history, yes, but if we are to learn from history we must first face it with honesty and openness.”
Deary previously wrote six stories for the museum. However, he said that displaying the books is “just a step too far”, likening it to a “freak show”.
“We’re buoyed that [Deary] continues to write about the murder within his books as it is hugely important to our understanding of the past,” said Clarke.
