The Allure of Arsenic: Nineteenth Century Innovation and Twenty-First Century Fascination

Northwestern University Libraries has focused on the identification of green, arsenical, nineteenth century bindings in the circulating collection for the past four years due to arsenic’s toxicity and degradation. Once health and safety protocols were established in the pilot project, research was aimed at identifying the prevalence of arsenic in the collection and characterizing its use patterns in bound materials. XRF analysis of ∼1,500 green, nineteenth century volumes resulted in the detection of arsenic on 73 volumes, roughly 5% of the collection. This data was uploaded to Northwestern's custom database which allowed for the identification of arsenical trends in the survey set. Comparing testing information and bibliographic data, we found that Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States were top publishing nations for books containing arsenical compounds. Use patterns of arsenic on book components such as page edges, covers and labels appeared to change over the century within these geographic regions. Social fashions, laws, and regulations impacted the manufacture, sale, and use of arsenical compounds as communities began to realize the toxic nature of the material. Placing these patterns into the historical context of the nineteenth century further expands the existing knowledge of heavy metal use in book bindings.