booktheque

Bitten by witch fever

Lucinda Hawksley · 2016

Where to buy

Amazon’s price changes daily, so the most accurate place to see it is there, at the moment you buy.

View on Amazon

This is an affiliate link: if you buy through it, the site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps us bring quality content and maintain the site. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

About the book

Beautiful to look at and compelling to read, this book is a highly original and captivating volume that interleaves facsimile sections of alluring, arsenic-laden wallpapers with thought-provoking narrative. It is tracing the arresting story of the use and effects of the toxic pigments ingrained in popular wallpapers of the nineteenth century. Hawksley presents the history of Scheele's green and schweinfurt green, pigments created using arsenic, which produced the vibrant shades whose brilliance made them instant favourites with wallpaper designers and householders alike. With the aid of contemporary case studies and reports in the press, she reveals how, by the middle of the century, manufacturers were producing millions of rolls of arsenical wallpaper, with devastating consequences for those working in their factories and for those living in rooms decorated with the deadly designs. The wallpaper sections display dazzling long- lost work from the great designers and printers of the age, including Christopher Dresser, Corbiere, Son & Brindle, Charles Knowles & Co. and Morris & Co.- whose owner was famously dismissive of the fatal effects of living with arsenic-filled wallpapers.

Book details

Year
2016
Language
English
Publisher
Thames & Hudson
Editions
1
Pages
256
ISBN
9780500518380

Data source: Wikidata

More by Lucinda Hawksley