25 apr 2024 om 15:17 Update: 17 min. geleden
The French national library has removed four nineteenth-century books as a precaution. The books are said to contain the poisonous substance arsenic. The Royal Library (KB) in The Hague has also taken books off the shelf for this reason.
The Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris quarantines the books, which come from the United Kingdom. A laboratory must determine how much arsenic the books contain.
Researchers have discovered that publishers in the 1800s used the chemical as a green coloring agent for books. The researchers worked at the Poison Book Project, which has been testing books for toxic substances for years. The project also maintains a list of risk books.
The Paris library took action when four of the approximately sixteen million titles turned out to be on that list. The institution now also has books with green covers and bindings that are not on the researchers’ list checked.
According to the spokesperson for the KB in The Hague, the heritage sector had previously become aware that arsenic was used in books. That is why the books have been removed from the public reading room and visitors can only view them on request.
“Books containing arsenic can still be inspected, provided that personal protective equipment is used. We continue to investigate the presence of arsenic in the collection and the best way to deal with it,” says a spokesperson for the KB.
Tags: Dutch French libraries remove books toxic substances shelves Book Culture
