Antique books contain toxic dyes — steer clear, chemical experts warn

Book nerds, beware.

The American Chemical Society is getting the word out on poisonous books from the past. A new report released by the scientific agency warned that colorfully bound books from the Victorian era are likely packed with toxic dyes, calling on 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 from researchers at Lipscomb University in Tennesee.

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

These century-old tomes often contain pigments that have since been confirmed 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 the chemistry department — with laboratory assistance from Vanderbilt University — to analyze the school’s collection of 19th- and early-20th-century, fabric-covered books.

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For the first time, 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.

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

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

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

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

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