Temple University Med School: Skull yearbook, 1942

This is the 1942 yearbook from the Temple University School of Medicine. The design of the embossed leather cover drives me wild. It's on eBay right now with a buy-it-now price of $1495.
Temple University School of Medicine Skull Yearbook

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Enormo

I’m going ga ga over it.
Nona

Old yearbooks are fantastic. I’m lucky enough to work at a used bookstore where we come across them fairly often, and I’m amassing a small collection. My favorite is a cowboy-themed University of Arizona one, also from 1942– the pictures are just stunning.
Anonymous

First off, as creepy as it sounds, I want to smell it. Old leather bound books smell like heaven! Secondly, is it just me or is any one else thinking of the book from evil dead? (snicker) Thirdly, there is a danger in selling old volumes of this nature; it leads, unfortunately to the looting of similar volumes in local libraries once a high price has been associated with it. Thirdly and in conclusion, the number of obituaries associated with this class has me wondering how many survivors there are, if any. A cover like that should be framed and displayed, it truly is amazing!
Anonymous

@JSauter It really does look like it. I caught Evil Dead 2 at a midnight showing on Friday and it blew my mind all over again.
Anonymous

Just a quibbling on details – the credit for the Necronomicon goes to HP Lovecraft of Cthulhu fame, not Evil Dead. Evil Dead was done in homage and tribute to the mythos. In any event, yearbook looks like it could have come from Miskatonic University. Go ‘Pods!
Anonymous

This is way cool.
invictus

Riu, did you seriously just self-censor the word “freaking”?
arkizzle

Invictus,

I thought the same thing when I read that, but didn’t want to damage the delicate sentiment behind it – with reprimands or mockery.

Its just so *cute* :)
arkizzle

Ooh! Mockery afoot:

“Are Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Einstein, Amy Whinehouse or Marie Curie in it?”

..not sure you understand how a yearbook works.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got :)
Kyle

Temple University Med Skull
Anonymous

My grandmother was a nurse at Temple and a yearbook was dedicated to her in the 1940′s. Does any one know if this book was dedicated to anyone?
buddy66

#9: Riu, did you seriously just self-censor the word “freaking”?

He did, he really did! That’s just fucking wonderful!
Takuan

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/3072722004_0566d519e0.jpg
Sunny1972

Skull & crossbones society

-JT
jimh

If you were going to spend $1500 on a single book why not a good first edition of something actually valuable, like say, “To Kill a Mockingbird”? That “Buy it now” price is fre*king insane.
grimc

@jsauter

I wonder if it comes with a boomstick.
Anonymous

Temple Owls are everywhere! Go Owls!
Takuan

fre*king…. and so it is born.
jsauter

Kind of has the same texture as the Evil Dead necromonicon.
Anonymous

I love the vertical line of the K. Absolutely wonderful!
obdan

It’s nice, but I haven’t seen the pictures yet. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
I’d have set the price at $1942 by the way.
Riu

I’ll agree that the cover is really nice and I wouldn’t mind having it on a shelf, but 1500 bucks for a fre*king yearbook? Are Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Einstein, Amy Whinehouse or Marie Curie in it?
Telecustard

With a cover design like that and the fact that it’s from a 1940′s school of medicine, does anyone else wonder what kind of leather it is?

It would make an awesome motorcycle jacket with that on the back though.
Riu

Lol@all.

That ‘self-censoring’ was really not on purpose, neither was the misspelling, don’t know why it came out that way. Maybe it’s Battlestar Galactica’s ‘fraggin’ fault. I have no fucking problem with some gratuitous cursing and frickin’ HATE censorship! ;-)

As for the mockery, I’m pretty sure a yearbook is a just that: a yearbook. (unless I’m missing some special defintion here)

My point was that unless this book is from a year when somebody important/special/famous was at this university or it has really special content, asking 1500$ for it is utter BS imho. Then again, like Barnum allegedly said: ‘There a sucker born every minute…
Takuan

fre*king sweet!
Tom Hale

Fre*king funny!

Really, any time someone uses a word in the place of an actual swear word like freaking, they may as well have used the actual word. Everyone reading the euphemism knows exactly what the word stands for and what was in the mind of the person using it.

And – Cool book cover!
buddy66

No matter, Riu, you’ve given us a new toy. Thank you. But you’re right about the content, which may be amusing or diverting enough, I suppose, but not worth that kind of money. The real value is with that stunning cover. It really is first-rate!

What the h*ck, you don’t see that kind of work these days.
Tom Hale

D*ng Buddy, Language! &lt—– Moderator!!!