Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books

At one of America's oldest bookshops, there are just as many stories to be told outside the pages as in them. Join bookseller Kenneth Gloss and co-host Jordan Rich as they share entertaining conversations and histories surrounding Boston's favorite spot for bibliophiles.

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To modern eyes, the Victorians displayed a number of toxic traits—not least of which was a penchant for poisoning themselves. After a long day of applying lead-based cosmetics and eating adulterated bread, a person of the 1800s might kick back under the indoor gas lamp with a brilliant green book bound in arsenic-dyed cloth. A sickening number of these volumes are still in circulation today—posing a potential health hazard to librarians and researchers who handle them frequently. Today we’re talking about the Poison Books Project, an initiative of the Winterthur Library and the University of Delaware. The PBP identifies and catalogs books bound with toxic pigments and offers safety tips for those who work with them. Enjoy this to-dye-for new #brattlecast—and learn more about the Poison Books Project here.