Handling ‘Poison Books’: Dry Versus Wet Scenarios

Toxic heavy metal pigments are known to be found in nineteenth-century, mass-produced, Euro-American bookbindings. A lack of data, standards, and regulations for exposure to heavy metal pigments in the cultural heritage sector limits understanding of when such bookbindings might present the greatest health and safety risk and how best to assess such risk. This case study measures the friability of arsenic, chromium, and lead based pigments in a sampling of nineteenth-century bookbindings through three scenarios: first, in their naturally aged, intact state; second, during a water event simulation; and third, after salvage and air-drying from the water disaster simulation. The data demonstrate that the risk of exposure to these heavy metals increases during and after a water event, with exposure to arsenic presenting the highest degree of risk.