Arsenic and the Book Trade: A Toxic Relationship

As the book trade expanded in the early nineteenth century, new technologies and materials began to be used in bookbinding, this included the invention of machine-made bookcloth in the 1820s. This early bookcloth was made from thin cotton or linen, and was coated with a mixture of starch, fillers, and colourants to impart a brilliant eye-catching hue to the covers. This new type of bookcloth was less expensive to use than traditional leather and quickly became the standard for mass-produced editions. 

Copper acetoarsenite, commonly known as “emerald green”, was one pigment used to create intensely coloured, bright green bookcloth. Despite its extreme toxicity, arsenic-containing emerald green was widely used in home textiles, wallpaper, paints, bookcloth, and as a pesticide during a large part of the nineteenth century. 

Studies to detect arsenical bookbindings in library collections have been undertaken internationally, however comparable research had not been done in the Canadian milieu. Therefore, by building upon the previous research of Tedone and Grayburn from the “Poison Book Project”, a collaborative research study was undertaken by Special Collections, the Conservation Unit, and faculty from the Art Conservation Department. Portable X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscopy was conducted in a Canadian library context to identify arsenic-containing books in the W.D. Jordan Rare Books & Special Collections. 

XRF Spectroscopy is a non-destructive analytical technique that uses X-rays to excite atoms in a sample and measure the energy of the fluorescence emitted. The characteristic energy of the fluorescence is used to identify the elements present in the sample. Resulting spectra that demonstrated strong peaks for copper and arsenic provided a method of identification. This data was shared with the larger “Poison Book Project” Arsenical Books Database, which is a growing list of known arsenical green bookbindings. 

Presenters will discuss their findings and provide a road map for other libraries wishing to undertake similar analysis of their collections. The development of the Queen’s University Library safety plan and recommendations to minimize the health and safety risks associated with the ongoing handling, long-term storage, and care of identified arsenical books will also be discussed.

Recording: https://youtu.be/2aGXmLvE1Ks