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All of our vintage books are killing us!

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Poison books are a legacy of fashion and industrial practices that prioritised beauty above all else. And the heavy metals left behind are still causing headaches to this day.

Lead was detected in the front panels, text blocks and interior colour illustrations of most books, with maximum concentration of 15,100 mg kg-1, 8680 mg kg-1 and 12,800 mg kg-1, respectively. However, concentrations above 1000 mg kg-1 were generally restricted to books published between about 1850 and 1960.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389423012645#:~:text=Lead%20was%20detected%20in%20the,between%20about%201850%20and%201960