The seemingly harmless covers of 19th-century books might harbor a potentially lethal secret—the presence of toxic elements that have remained hidden for decades, lurking on the shelves of libraries and private collections worldwide.
The discovery began in 2022 when a librarian at the Winterthur Library in Delaware (United States) decided to conduct chemical tests on a 19th-century book with a suspiciously flaking green cover. This revealed the presence of arsenic and triggered a nationwide awareness campaign called the “Poison Book Project,” aimed at informing libraries about this phenomenon and providing them with the necessary tools to identify, assess, and safely handle these literary treasures that have inadvertently become potential health hazards.
Inspired by this pioneering initiative, Jan Cohu, a systems librarian at Beaman Library at Lipscomb University (Nashville, Tennessee), decided to undertake a similar mission at her own institution. She embarked on the arduous task of identifying potentially dangerous 19th-century books in the Beaman Library collections, for which she sought the collaboration of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to analyze the chemical composition of the dyes used in the covers of these old volumes.
The project has highlighted the presence of arsenic in books with covers displaying a characteristic bright green color, attributed to the use of copper acetoarsenite, a highly toxic pigment commonly used during the Victorian era—not only in book manufacturing but also in a wide range of household products, from wallpapers to dresses, with no awareness of the dangers it could pose to human health.
However, the research conducted at Beaman Library has yielded surprising results that broaden the spectrum of the threat beyond arsenic: analyses have revealed significant concentrations of lead and chromium in the yellow pigment used on the covers of several books, suggesting the presence of the toxic chrome yellow pigment.
In light of these findings, American libraries have begun implementing safe handling and storage protocols for these potentially toxic collections. This includes removing from circulation books containing high levels of hazardous substances such as lead chromate, a measure that, according to Cohu, does not represent a great loss, given that there is no significant waiting list for these titles, but it is essential to ensure the safety of our users and staff.
This initiative is providing crucial data on the levels of lead and chromium in the pigments used in the bindings of 19th-century books, information that complements and expands on previous findings primarily focused on the presence of arsenic in emerald green pigment.
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