A book which kills

Shadows From the Walls of Death is a terrific book title.  It suggests a cross between Lovecraftian horror and black metal music.

It's also a very real and extremely scarce book, one which can sicken or kill readers.  Because that was the intent.  The author wanted to warn people about the dangers of arsenic in wallpapers, so created a book which consists almost entirely of samples thereof.

As part of his campaign to raise awareness about poison papers, Kedzie produced 100 copies of Shadows and sent them out to public libraries across Michigan. Each one is a slim volume, containing few words—just a title page, a short preface, and a note from the Board of Health explaining the purpose of the book and advising librarians not to let children handle it. The macabre title page reproduces a quote from the Biblical book of Leviticus: “And behold if the plague be in the walls of the house, with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, then the priest…shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place.” The remaining pages, 86 in full, consist of wallpaper samples taken from common merchants.

Before you imagine a book-driven wave of 19th century deaths, know that librarians have your back, as always:

Of the original 100 copies, only four remain. Most libraries, concerned about poisoning their patrons, destroyed their volumes. Two of the surviving books remain in Michigan—one at MSU and the other at the University of Michigan. MSU’s copy rests on an unassuming shelf in the library’s Special Collections division, housed in an appropriately green box. Each page is individually encapsulated in plastic so that researchers and the curious can handle it without fear.

Like so:

Here's the title page, from an NIH scan.  Enjoy the tint:

One edition is available via Amazon, with this description:

This version of ‘Shadows from the Walls of Death’ is a tribute to Robert Clark Kedzie, who produced the originals of which there are now only two left in existence. They are located at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. The originals are approximately 22 x 30 inches containing a title page and an 8 page preface followed by 86 samples cut from rolls of arsenic impregnated wallpaper. The book is sealed in a protective container and each individual page is encapsulated. This particular edition does not actually contain any arsenic. Further to that the content of this volume including both text and images are for entertainment purposes.

PS: interesting Google result, under "People also search for...":

(thanks to Jamie Townsend)

Comments

[Paul]

The "Vanishing Lady" episode of ESC: Sonic Adventure in the Anthropocene (https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/file_sets/4t64gp53j) also discussed arsenic poisoning from wallpaper.

[Bryan Alexander]

Thank you, Paul!

[Soni]

I read a lot of blog posts and i never heard of a topic like this. I Love this topic you made, really amazing.