The University of St Andrews has developed a new tool to quickly identify poisonous books

For years, a primary way to make an emerald green book cover was soaking it in arsenic and copper, which will poison you. Some libraries just put all their green books from a certain era into a forbidden shelf out of an abundance of caution.

The University of St Andrews has developed a new tool to quickly identify poisonous books

For years, a primary way to make an emerald green book cover was soaking it in arsenic and copper, which will poison you. Some libraries just put all their green books from a certain era into a forbidden shelf out of an abundance of caution. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/06/tool-to-identify-poisonous-books-developed-by-university-of-st-andrews