Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
I never knew that old books were made with dangerous/toxic chemicals.
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Arsenic was used quite extensively in at least two green pigments—Scheele's green which was later replaced by Paris green (aka emerald green). Paris/emerald green chemically was copper acetoarsenite while Scheele's green was cupric hydrogen arsenite.
Not only were they used in book covers and illustrations, they were used in clothing. Admittedly, this was an era where one two volume book I used to own recommended coating the inside of windows with sulphuric acid to prevent them from frosting. Even looking at the section on photography suggested that worrying about the effect of chemicals on your life span was not a big concern.