Bitten By Witch Fever: Wallpaper & Arsenic in the NineteenthCentury Home

The shocking story of a deadly trend in Victorian wallpaper design, illustrated by beautiful and previously unseen arsenicriddled designs from the British National ArchivesIn Germany, in 1814, Wilhelm Sattler created an extremely toxic arsenic and verdigris compound pigment, Schweinfurt greenknown also as Paris, Vienna, or emerald greenwhich became an instant favorite amongst designers and manufacturers the world over, thanks to its versatility in creating enduring yellows, vivid greens, and brilliant blues. Most insidiously, the arseniclaced pigment made its way into intricately patterned, brightly colored wallpapers and from there, as they became increasingly in vogue, into the Victorian home. As its use became widespread, commercial arsenic mines increased production to meet the nearinsatiable demand. Not least of which was the UKs largest mining plant, DGC whose owner was William Morris, originator of the British Arts and Crafts movement and arguably the finest wallpaper designer of his generation.Bitten by Witch Fever (Morriss own phrase to dismiss arsenic and wallpaperrelated public health concerns in 1885) tells this fatal story of Victorian home dcor, building upon new research conducted especially for this book by the British National Archive, on their own samples. Spliced between the sections of text are stunning facsimiles of the wallpapers themselves. 350+ illustrations, 250+ in color