A study reveals the danger of Victorian-era bookbindings

If you come across a Victorian-era book bound in brightly coloured cloth, we advise you to handle it with care or even refrain from touching it altogether. Some of the attractive hues on these covers come from dyes that could be a health risk readers, collectors and librarians. This is confirmed by new scientific research that has used three different techniques (including one that had not been previously applied to books) to assess the dangerous dyes in volumes from a university collection, and has revealed that handling some of these copies can be risky.

During the Victorian era, in the 19th century, they were used Heavy metals and carcinogenic amines in the manufacture of textiles that were later used for the production of book bindings and covers. Some of these brightly coloured fabrics contain pigments that pose a serious risk to health, such as the highly toxic pigment emerald green (copper acetoarsenite), non-arsenical chrome yellow (lead chromate) or a mixture of Prussian blue.

“These old books with toxic dyes can be found in universities, public libraries and private collections,” he says. Abigail Hoermanna chemistry student at Lipscomb University and one of the authors of the study, while warning of the danger that users could face if the pigments in the cloth covers of these volumes come into contact with their hands or become transmitted through the air and are inhaled. “So we want to find a way to make it easy for everyone to know what they are exposed to in these books and How to store them safely“, he adds.

Some of the tests carried out during the investigation into the poisonous books. (Provided)

The study – in which he also participated Jafer Aljorani, Leila Ais y Joseph Weinstein-Webbthe latter an adjunct professor of chemistry — got started after librarians at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, approached the chemistry department about analyzing 19th- and early 20th-century books bound in ornately colored cloth in the school’s library. Professor Weinstein-Webb set to work, and while gathering information, he learned that the Winterthur Museum Library, which houses 87,000 volumes, had already screened its 19th-century books for an arsenic compound known as copper acetoarsenite, an emerald-green pigment used in Victorian-era painting. wallpaper, on clothing and, as the Winterthur Library study discovered, also in the cloth covers of books.

That discovery led to the Poison Books Project, a collaborative investigation that uses X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Raman spectroscopy, and other techniques to reveal toxic pigments in books around the world. Weinstein-Webb and her students began their own research in 2022 and recently, using XRF data, showed that lead and chromium were present in some of the books at the Lipscomb University Library, in some cases in high levels. Later tests indicated that in some cases these heavy metals were in the form of lead chromate, one of the compounds that contribute to the chrome yellow pigment he used. Vincent van Gogh in his famous sunflower paintings.

The findings have led the Lipscomb Library to Seal in plastic bags with a zip-top closure Some colorful 19th-century books that have not yet been analyzed have been placed in storage and handling. Meanwhile, books that have been confirmed to contain dangerous pigments have also been sealed in bags and withdrawn from public circulation.

“In the future,” says Hoermann, “we want libraries to be able to analyze their collections without destroying them.”

If you come across a Victorian-era book bound in brightly coloured cloth, we advise you to handle it with care or even refrain from touching it altogether. Some of the attractive hues on these covers come from dyes that could be a health risk readers, collectors and librarians. This is confirmed by new scientific research that has used three different techniques (including one that had not been previously applied to books) to assess the dangerous dyes in volumes from a university collection, and has revealed that handling some of these copies can be risky.