Behind an unmarked door on the 4th floor of McFarlin Library, there is a storage room which is dark – some might say it is haunted. Stored here are works of art and books made of rare materials…and some of those materials might be laced with poison. In current rhetoric, the contents of many books are considered “harmful." As an academic library, we promote reading and access to all books with the exception of books that might be an actual danger to your health. Many of these Victorian-era book covers were created using heavy metals and other hazardous substances that helped them capture vibrant colors.
I interviewed McFarlin Special Collections Cataloging Librarian, Brandis Malone, to discuss a little of the history behind these poisoned books as well as how McFarlin is handling these materials in Special Collections.
Kathryn: Can you tell me a little bit about what makes these “poisoned” books?
Brandis: Yeah, for sure. So, we're specifically looking at books from the Victorian era. Generally, these are books from the 19th century from about 1800 to 1900, about 100 years. But some poisoned books are generally more from like 1830 to 1870. And that's about the time when the Victorians loved throwing poison into everything. They put it into medicine, they put it into wallpaper, and they were putting it into book cloth as well to make it super vibrant and colorful. They would put arsenic into book cloth to make it this beautiful emerald-green color. They would put chromium and lead with Prussian blue to create this dark, forest-green color. And then they would put chromium and lead and, there's some other chemical I'm forgetting, to make this nice yellow-orange. And obviously, lead and arsenic are not safe for people. So, you know, you're not supposed to touch it with your bare hands. You wouldn’t go around licking books or something. But also, you try not to breathe in those sorts of things. And little bits of exposure are technically fine. It's just if you're working in a library and cataloging or paging books, it can be pretty dangerous.
Kathryn: Why is Special Collections participating in the poison book project?
Brandis: Lots of libraries are doing it all over the world. It's not like a conglomerate we’re joining essentially. It's kind of just this movement around libraries to identify these poisonous materials because, for a long time, people didn't know they were there. And so now we're like, oh, this is actually like a health hazard, we should probably start seriously tackling this issue.
Kathryn: Are you guys reporting the findings?
Brandis: There is this website called the Poison Book Project from the University of Delaware. And they do have a reporting feature. So, like, if you test something and it does test positive, you can submit it. And hopefully, we can do that once we start doing some serious testing. Currently, they're only tracking arsenic, though. And we're branching out into the chrome yellows and the chrome greens, which I'll show you.
Kathryn: Were these books purchased by McFarlin because they were poisoned, or did you find out after?
Brandis: No. Particularly literature, and children's books, but these books span every genre.
Kathryn: Okay, so it's not like a specific type of book or anything like that?
Brandis: No. Now it's becoming a collecting area where people want to get cool poisonous books. But previously it was just, “Oh, look at this pretty green book.”
Kathryn: So, what has been the most unique find in terms of the content within these poisonous books that you guys have kind of looked through?
Brandis: That's a good question. I don't know. We haven't looked through the books to see what the content is. We're mostly worried about the actual binding itself. Most of it is literature.
Kathryn: Okay, so most of the poisonous material is in the binding, though it's not in the pages itself necessarily?
Brandis: It can be. So, the binding is what we're mostly worried about, but it can also be on the edges of the books. Sometimes they'd stain the edges in different colors. That’s something we're looking at. And then also the endpapers of a book. Because they would do that for the pretty endpapers.
Kathryn: In terms of what you guys have looked through already, have you found one that's super dangerous?
Brandis: We’ve done a little bit of testing, but we haven't gotten the results back yet. I'll show you this downstairs, but the current plan is to bag them in Ziploc bags. We're going to put them through testing. And then once we have some that are confirmed poisonous, we're going to put them in more long-term plastic bags that are a little bit thicker. So they're more resistant to puncture – more like polyethylene bags. It’s never going to be anything like locked in a lead case. You’re not going to drop dead if you touch a poisonous book.
Kathryn: So, for you to keep testing, are you guys partnering with someone else or do you have to run the test yourself?
Brandis: No, we're trying to do a collaboration with the chemistry department. We've reached out to a professor there and we did some initial testing. We're hoping to eventually get access to an XRF, which is a kind of chemical testing gun. It would tell you exactly what the chemical makeup of the binding is. We haven't gotten to that yet. You need special training and stuff to use that. We'd also need approval and it's expensive. But yeah, we're mostly doing some other sort of fluorescent microscopy. He has his whole system over there.
Kathryn: Okay, so when you handle these books, which I'm sure I'll see downstairs as well, what particular manner do you handle them?
Brandis: So, you want to handle them safely, like any sort of rare book. You just want to make sure that you have gloves on. We generally ask people to wear a mask if they're going to be handling them a lot. It's mostly the gloves we're worried about. You want to wash your hands after, even if you are wearing gloves. And then we also have precautions for like surfaces. So we have polyethylene sheeting to put down. We have a special kind of book cradle that's made of acrylic, which is easily cleanable. And it's just making sure that we're clearing up the residue.
Kathryn: So, you’re making sure people are not transferring it or anything like that?
Brandis: Yeah, that's the problem too with arsenic because it's super friable. So even if you don't see it, it's transferring to everything pretty much.
Kathryn: Is there anything else you want to share about this project or that you found interesting that you'd like people to know about?
Brandis: We're kind of in the beginning stages. So, it's new, but I think the whole thing's cool. It’s just a really interesting part of book history that people don’t talk about.
For more information on Poisoned Books and the history of arsenic green, please consider the following sources:
Behind an unmarked door on the 4th floor of McFarlin Library, there is a storage room which is dark – some might say it is haunted. Stored here are works of art and books made of rare materials…and some of those materials might be laced with poison. In current rhetoric, the contents of many books are considered “harmful." As an academic library, we promote reading and access to all books with the exception of books that might be an actual danger to your health. Many of these Victorian-era book covers were created using heavy metals and other hazardous substances that helped them capture vibrant colors.
I interviewed McFarlin Special Collections Cataloging Librarian, Brandis Malone, to discuss a little of the history behind these poisoned books as well as how McFarlin is handling these materials in Special Collections.
Kathryn: Can you tell me a little bit about what makes these “poisoned” books?
Brandis: Yeah, for sure. So, we're specifically looking at books from the Victorian era. Generally, these are books from the 19th century from about 1800 to 1900, about 100 years. But some poisoned books are generally more from like 1830 to 1870. And that's about the time when the Victorians loved throwing poison into everything. They put it into medicine, they put it into wallpaper, and they were putting it into book cloth as well to make it super vibrant and colorful. They would put arsenic into book cloth to make it this beautiful emerald-green color. They would put chromium and lead with Prussian blue to create this dark, forest-green color. And then they would put chromium and lead and, there's some other chemical I'm forgetting, to make this nice yellow-orange. And obviously, lead and arsenic are not safe for people. So, you know, you're not supposed to touch it with your bare hands. You wouldn’t go around licking books or something. But also, you try not to breathe in those sorts of things. And little bits of exposure are technically fine. It's just if you're working in a library and cataloging or paging books, it can be pretty dangerous.
Kathryn: Why is Special Collections participating in the poison book project?
Brandis: Lots of libraries are doing it all over the world. It's not like a conglomerate we’re joining essentially. It's kind of just this movement around libraries to identify these poisonous materials because, for a long time, people didn't know they were there. And so now we're like, oh, this is actually like a health hazard, we should probably start seriously tackling this issue.
Kathryn: Are you guys reporting the findings?
Brandis: There is this website called the Poison Book Project from the University of Delaware. And they do have a reporting feature. So, like, if you test something and it does test positive, you can submit it. And hopefully, we can do that once we start doing some serious testing. Currently, they're only tracking arsenic, though. And we're branching out into the chrome yellows and the chrome greens, which I'll show you.
Kathryn: Were these books purchased by McFarlin because they were poisoned, or did you find out after?
Brandis: No. Particularly literature, and children's books, but these books span every genre.
Kathryn: Okay, so it's not like a specific type of book or anything like that?
Brandis: No. Now it's becoming a collecting area where people want to get cool poisonous books. But previously it was just, “Oh, look at this pretty green book.”
Kathryn: So, what has been the most unique find in terms of the content within these poisonous books that you guys have kind of looked through?
Brandis: That's a good question. I don't know. We haven't looked through the books to see what the content is. We're mostly worried about the actual binding itself. Most of it is literature.
Kathryn: Okay, so most of the poisonous material is in the binding, though it's not in the pages itself necessarily?
Brandis: It can be. So, the binding is what we're mostly worried about, but it can also be on the edges of the books. Sometimes they'd stain the edges in different colors. That’s something we're looking at. And then also the endpapers of a book. Because they would do that for the pretty endpapers.
Kathryn: In terms of what you guys have looked through already, have you found one that's super dangerous?
Brandis: We’ve done a little bit of testing, but we haven't gotten the results back yet. I'll show you this downstairs, but the current plan is to bag them in Ziploc bags. We're going to put them through testing. And then once we have some that are confirmed poisonous, we're going to put them in more long-term plastic bags that are a little bit thicker. So they're more resistant to puncture – more like polyethylene bags. It’s never going to be anything like locked in a lead case. You’re not going to drop dead if you touch a poisonous book.
Kathryn: So, for you to keep testing, are you guys partnering with someone else or do you have to run the test yourself?
Brandis: No, we're trying to do a collaboration with the chemistry department. We've reached out to a professor there and we did some initial testing. We're hoping to eventually get access to an XRF, which is a kind of chemical testing gun. It would tell you exactly what the chemical makeup of the binding is. We haven't gotten to that yet. You need special training and stuff to use that. We'd also need approval and it's expensive. But yeah, we're mostly doing some other sort of fluorescent microscopy. He has his whole system over there.
Kathryn: Okay, so when you handle these books, which I'm sure I'll see downstairs as well, what particular manner do you handle them?
Brandis: So, you want to handle them safely, like any sort of rare book. You just want to make sure that you have gloves on. We generally ask people to wear a mask if they're going to be handling them a lot. It's mostly the gloves we're worried about. You want to wash your hands after, even if you are wearing gloves. And then we also have precautions for like surfaces. So we have polyethylene sheeting to put down. We have a special kind of book cradle that's made of acrylic, which is easily cleanable. And it's just making sure that we're clearing up the residue.
Kathryn: So, you’re making sure people are not transferring it or anything like that?
Brandis: Yeah, that's the problem too with arsenic because it's super friable. So even if you don't see it, it's transferring to everything pretty much.
Kathryn: Is there anything else you want to share about this project or that you found interesting that you'd like people to know about?
Brandis: We're kind of in the beginning stages. So, it's new, but I think the whole thing's cool. It’s just a really interesting part of book history that people don’t talk about.
For more information on Poisoned Books and the history of arsenic green, please consider the following sources: