German libraries have begun a vast campaign to put their books colored in the famous Schweinfurt green, or Paris green, out of reach. This pigment, very popular with publishers at the turn of the 18th century, was also used as rat poison for a long time.
The Bielefeld university library has removed 60,000 books from its shelves, which are rather easy to spot with their characteristic green color. The National University Library of Strasbourg plans to place the incriminated books in boxes after scanning them for the public. “The idea will be to no longer have to handle them, but they will remain elements of heritage, insists Jérôme Schweitzer, curator at the BNU.