Just bought two second hand books today from 1949 and 1958 respectively. Both have red pigmentation, and the first has a worn red-ish fabric cover while the second has a paper cover with red and black ink. Old books are known to contain pigments made of lead and cadmium which can be toxic upon exposure, is this something I should be worried about?
The two books aren’t in horrible condition for books their age, but they certainly aren’t great and I don’t know if I’m risking exposure to anything hazardous (I will be treating them for mould tho/ quarantining them so that no bugs remain). Should I be wearing gloves while reading them or is there any particular storage method that’s safe or should I just toss them? I do not want to toss them but I also don’t want lead poisoning, any advice or helpful input would be appreciated!
For reference, the first book is the 1949 printed version of ‘Measuring intelligence’ by Lewis M. Terman and Maud A. Merrill originally published in 1937. (For reference I am not a eugenicist, just a nerd for the absolute mess that is the history of modern psychology and past pseudosciences).
The second book is ‘Anatomy of a Murderer’ by Robert Travier published 1958, this copy being printed presumably in the same year (as the description speaks of an upcoming movie deal but does not say that the movie has been made, which is was the following year in 1959).
by Skrrtdt