Don't judge a book by its cover.

That's what they tell us, at least.

The idea being that because there's so much wonder and adventure inside, we shouldn't

let the covers stop us from opening a book up and digging in.

But in 2008, one book tested the limits of that old cliche.

They came up for auction in Germany, and photos of the book managed to draw a lot of attention.

Closed it looks like an old 17th century book, roughly 14 by 9 inches in size and nearly

5 inches thick.

There are a couple of book clasps mounted to the cover designed to keep it closed when

not in use.

There are even a few slender bookmarks poking out from the edges of the pages.

But it's the photo of the open book that really caught people's attention.

As inside the entire book, turned out to be fake.

On the inside of the front cover, a large etching of the human skeleton had been pasted

on, most likely cut from an even older book, and where the pages should be was something

altogether unexpected.

A series of small wooden drawers.

It's honestly pretty fascinating to look at, although it's tiny little compartments,

and each one is labeled too, with slender, handwritten notes describing the contents of

those drawers.

Each one of them apparently once held material from a poisonous plant.

Wolfsbane, Nightshade, Thornapple, that sort of thing.

...