Four books have been removed from the shelves of France's national library over concerns that their covers may contain poisonous arsenic.
These 19th century volumes, printed in Great Britain, have emerald green covers, arsenic being commonly used to color book covers at the time.
Researchers at the American University of Delaware have identified books taken off the shelves as potentially dangerous.
The library said that the books could cause minor damage to users if they were flipped.
"We have quarantined these publications and an external laboratory will carry out an analysis to assess how much arsenic is present in each volume," said a spokesman for the National Library of France.
Four volumes, including the book of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1862-1863, two volumes Ballads of Ireland by Edward Hayes from 1855 and Henry Stanley's 1856 bilingual anthology of Romanian poetry.
The list of potentially dangerous titles has been consolidated The Poison Book Project (Poison Book Project).
This initiative is led by researchers from the University of Delaware in cooperation with the Winterthur Museum there.
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- Human skin as bookbinding material, courtesy of Harvard University
- A copy of Orwell's "1984" returned to an American library after six decades
The team tested hundreds of book covers for heavy metals since 2019 and compiled a list of titles that are potentially dangerous.
Four copies from the list were among the National Library of France's collection of more than 16 million books.
Victorian-era publishers used arsenic to color book bindings, in pigments such as Paris green, emerald green, and Scheele green, named after the German-born chemist.
Iz The Poison Book Project they state that poisonous books should be stored carefully, and that they can pose a health risk to those who handle them.
In response to finding some contaminated titles in its own collection, the National Library of France said it would examine other books "beyond the list of this project".
World Health Organization warns against long-term exposure to arsenic from drinking water and food, adding that the substance is "very toxic in its inorganic form".
But it doesn't provide any specific advice for handling items that contain it.
In 2022, librarians in Leeds discovered a rare book whose cover contained arsenic..
My Own Garden: A Young Gardener's Yearbook (My Own Garden: The Young Gardener's Yearbook) was published in 1855 and has a bright green cover.
Senior librarian Rijan Isaac discovered the book by comparing the library's collection with global database known contaminated titles The Poison Book Project.
Recently, in Germany, some books were removed from the shelves as a precautionary measure, due to possible arsenic contamination.
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