A handful of books published in the mid-19th century, bound and covered in a pigment known as emerald green, are rare and life-threatening.
The greenish hue, also known as Paris green, contained arsenic, a toxic mineral that created its distinctive color.
You are reading: These green books are poisonous
Emerald green was in fashion at the time, widely used in paints and as a pigment for clothing. the sweets were even painted in an eye-catching hue.
While simply handling these books today is unlikely to cause significant harm, acute symptoms of arsenic exposure can include gastrointestinal symptoms. long-term effects can lead to injury and cancer.
“I knew of wallpapers that had arsenic pigment in them and I knew of book illustrations that had arsenic pigment in them, but you don’t expect the poison to cover the outside of a book where you’re going to hold it to read that,” said melissa tedone, curator from the delaware winterthur museum.
tedone first discovered arsenic pigments in book covers while examining a copy of shirley hibberd’s Rustic Decorations for Tasteful Homes, a “gorgeous” book in a “garish Victorian sort of way”, published in 1857.
tedone was repairing the book’s spine and covers when he discovered some green pigment was flaking off, which he found unusual.
“it really seemed like the color was in a thick layer that was right on the surface of the book cloth, rather than a dye that would have penetrated the textile fibers of the book cloth and colored the fibers themselves,” he said tedone.
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Testing the pigment with x-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy, two techniques used to examine the structure of a chemical compound, confirmed that the pigment contained arsenic.
Tedone is now working to draw attention to potentially toxic titles with the Poisonous Book Project.
“In a way we’re going down that path of looking at all the toxic components that could be in the fabric of the books,” he told cbc radio on the 6th. “But we’re also trying to document all of the 19th century mass.” . -produced book bindings that could contain any type of arsenic.”
Arsenic’s toxicity was known as far back as the Victorian era, according to National Geographic, but the chemical made emerald green production cheap and popular.
color was not alone in its toxicity either. Scheele’s green, another popular pigment of the time, also contained arsenic, while chrome yellow was a mixture of chrome and lead.
‘it was just a nice green color’
allie alvis, a cataloger of rare book collections from washington, d.c., book salesman-type punch matrix, and former special collections reference librarian at smithsonian libraries, has researched arsenic-containing books dating back to the 17th century.
Back then, book binders coated secondhand vellum with a pigment known as vergaut, a color made by mixing indigo and orpiment, an orange-yellow arsenic sulfide mineral.
Despite the lewd backstories being peddled by some booksellers, Alvis says it’s unlikely these books contained toxins for nefarious or security purposes.
“They weren’t trying to stop people from getting their hands on these books,” he recalled. “some people speculated in the early days of looking at these books, was it an insecticide?
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“no, it was just because it was green. it was just a nice green color.”
alvis is part of a working group with tedone that aims to provide information to libraries and other institutions on how best to handle books containing arsenic pigments.
The Poisonous Book Project suggests wearing nitrile gloves when handling books that may have been painted emerald green and storing them in insulated polythene bags. winterthur, tedone said, now stores emerald green books in a rare book collection, away from open stacks.
So far, the project has identified 92 books that use emerald green on their covers. Tedone points out that not all green-cover books published in the 19th century contain arsenic, and people with old books at home need not panic.
“We are not aware of any case of someone becoming seriously ill from handling a book like this,” he said. “We just want people to be aware of the potential dangers so we can prevent any tragedy from happening from one of these books.”
Those who believe their books may contain emerald green can order a Poisonous Book Project marker that includes a color swatch to help identify the specific shade.
but despite their potential danger, alvis says books shouldn’t just be thrown away. instead, they can offer a unique insight into the bookbinding techniques and practices of the past.
“These are precious objects, usually even before we find out they’re arsenical,” Alvis said.
written by jason vermes. interview with melissa tedone produced by laurie allan.
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