Ancient books contain toxic dyes, chemical experts warn

People of books, beware.

The American Chemical Society is getting the word out about the poisonous books of the past. A new report released by the science agency warned that colour-bound books from the Victorian era are likely to be laced with toxic dyes, urging librarians, archivists and researchers to take special precautions when handling these texts.

The new findings came as a result of a new testing technique, described in the new report by researchers at Lipscomb University in Tennessee.

“These old books with toxic dyes could be in universities, public libraries and private collections,” said Abigail Hoermann, a chemistry student at the Nashville school who helped with the study. “So we want to find a way to make it easier for everyone to be able to find out what their exposure is to these books and how to store them safely.”

These centuries-old balls often contain pigments that have since been confirmed to be toxic, even carcinogenic, if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin.

The findings are thanks to Lipscomb University librarians Jan Cohu and Michaela Rutledge, who asked their colleagues in Vanderbilt University’s laboratory-assisted chemistry department to analyze the school’s collection of 19th- and early-century cloth-bound books. of the 20th century.

For the first time, the researchers applied a process called X-ray diffraction, which has previously been used to test old wallpaper and paintings, to identify which molecules in the pigments contained toxic metals.

They found that toxic lead and chromium were present at high levels in some samples, particularly books with yellow and green pigments, including one book with two and six times the limits, respectively, set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. .

Exposure to lead and chromium can lead to lung damage, nerve damage, fertility problems and cancer.

“I find it fascinating to know what previous generations thought was safe, and then we learn, oh, actually, it might not have been a good idea to use these great colors,” said Joseph Weinstein- Webb, an assistant professor of chemistry at Lipscomb. .

Now, all the colorful 19th-century books in the school’s Beaman Library are sealed in plastic until more research is done on how to handle them safely, then contribute their results to the Book Project Poison, a crowdsourced research project initiated by the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Delaware.