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posted by chromas on Sunday June 30 2019, @06:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the arsenic-and-old-lace dept.

How a Library Handles a Rare and Deadly Book of Wallpaper Samples

Shadows from the Walls of Death, printed in 1874 and measuring about 22 by 30 inches, is a noteworthy book for two reasons: its rarity, and the fact that, if you touch it, it might kill you. It contains just under a hundred wallpaper samples, each of which is saturated with potentially dangerous levels of arsenic.

The book is the work of Dr. Robert M. Kedzie, a Union surgeon during the American Civil War and later professor of chemistry at Michigan State Agricultural college (now MSU). When he came to serve on the state’s Board of Health in the 1870s, he set out to raise awareness about the dangers of arsenic-pigmented wallpaper. Though a lethal toxin, arsenic can be mixed with copper and made into beautiful paints and pigments, most commonly Scheele’s Green or Paris Green. This was no fringe phenomenon: near the end of the 19th century, the American Medical Association estimated that as much as 65 percent of all wallpaper in the United States contained arsenic.

[...] Of the original 100 copies, only four remain. Most libraries, concerned about poisoning their patrons, destroyed their volumes. Two of the surviving books remain in Michigan—one at MSU and the other at the University of Michigan. MSU’s copy rests on an unassuming shelf in the library’s Special Collections division, housed in an appropriately green box. Each page is individually encapsulated in plastic so that researchers and the curious can handle it without fear.

[...] The other two copies of Shadows have made their way to the Harvard University Medical School and the National Library of Medicine, which has digitized the entire volume and made it freely available online. That was no simple task: Dr. Stephen Greenberg, head of the rare books and early manuscripts section of the NLM’s History of Medicine division, says workers had to suit up in protective gear before handling the book.


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  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday June 30 2019, @07:39PM (4 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Sunday June 30 2019, @07:39PM (#861703) Journal

    Seems some things don't change. Still got plenty of lead paint and plumbing kicking around. The case of the Radium Girls springs to mind.

    2 of the 4 existing copies of this poisonous book are in Michigan. Flint is also in Michigan. Hmmm.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Sunday June 30 2019, @09:20PM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday June 30 2019, @09:20PM (#861725) Journal

      Plot line of Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose [wikipedia.org] (Il nome della rosa) ? Slightly different motivational apparatus, however.

    • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday July 01 2019, @12:01AM (2 children)

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday July 01 2019, @12:01AM (#861761) Journal

      2 of the 4 existing copies of this poisonous book are in Michigan. Flint is also in Michigan. Hmmm.

      Yeah... Hmm, indeed. Dr. Kavorkian was born in Michigan, so you know the place is simply teeming with deadly stuff waiting to get out. The Unabomber got his Ph.D. there.

      Heck, Detroit is there -- the place that popularized the most deadly piece of machine on Earth (though America is doing its best to put guns on top of automobiles for fatalities per year).

      Clearly all this stuff CAN'T be a coincidence...

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by shortscreen on Monday July 01 2019, @12:20AM

    by shortscreen (2252) on Monday July 01 2019, @12:20AM (#861766) Journal

    step 1: identify arsenic hazard
    step 2: mass produce a book containing the toxic substance
    step 3: ???
    step 4: Profit!

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Entropy on Monday July 01 2019, @12:52AM (1 child)

    by Entropy (4228) on Monday July 01 2019, @12:52AM (#861772)

    People used to utilize arsenic based makeup. While we can all agree Arsenic is dangerous maybe don't lick the wallpaper in the museum and you'll be fine.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Monday July 01 2019, @03:24AM

      by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 01 2019, @03:24AM (#861811) Journal

      Had the same general thought, however turns out some pigments break down over time into arsenic compounds that are much easier to absorb, so there is some real danger there. Not a problem for wear once makeup but for wallpaper in place for years it would be.

      This is also a reason some old paintings colors change noticeably.

      --
      В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by woodcruft on Monday July 01 2019, @02:05AM (2 children)

    by woodcruft (6528) on Monday July 01 2019, @02:05AM (#861787)

    IIRC, it's thought that arsenic in wallpaper was what killed Napolean.

    He was exiled to St.Helena after Waterloo and because it's in the middle of the Atlantic it's moist climate helped liberate the arsenic which slowly poisoned him.

    --
    :wq!
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @03:36AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @03:36AM (#861814)

      i thought he died from eating bangers and mash everyday.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Monday July 01 2019, @06:38AM

      by Bot (3902) on Monday July 01 2019, @06:38AM (#861843) Journal

      - Sir, we must dispatch Bonaparte to his exile, have you decided where to detain him?
      - There is that place, that island, whose custodians shortly die for unknown reason...
      - St.Helena?
      - Yes. Send him there.
      - What could possibly go wrong, eh, sir.
      - Indeed.

      --
      Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @12:41PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @12:41PM (#861893)

    The other two copies of Shadows have made their way to the Harvard University Medical School and the National Library of Medicine, which has digitized the entire volume and made it freely available online.

    Can you die from viewing the online version, too? :-)

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