Skip to main content
Historical Bibliography Updated: October 27, 2018

Shadows from the walls of death: Facts and inferences prefacing a book of specimens of arsenical wall papers.

Publication Details

Lansing, MI: W. S. George, 1874 CE.

To drive home the dangers of arsenic in wallpaper Kedzie took the step of publishing one of the most unusual books ever issued: Shadows from the Walls of Death: Facts and Inferences Prefacing a Book of Specimens of Arsenical Wall Papers, a large volume measuring about 22 x 30 inches containing a title page and an 8 page preface followed by 86 samples cut from rolls of arsenic impregnated wallpaper. These volumes Kedzig donated to libraries throughout the State of Michigan. On May 12, 2012 The Ann Arbor Chronicle reported that only two of the one hundred copies remain extant in Michigan, one at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the other at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Both copies remain toxic. The copy in Ann Arbor has all leaves encapsulated for safety, and can be handled only with gloves. 

Two other copies of Shadows, also toxic, are preserved at Harvard University Medical School, and the National Library of Medicine. Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

Thematic Classifications

Catalog MetadataReference Information
Entry Number#9643
Permanent Linkhttps://hom-sveltekit.fly.dev/entry/11830
Author Bio LinkMichigan State University Archives ↗
External URL-shadows-from-the-walls-of-death-facts-and-inferences-prefacing-a-book-of-specimens-of-arsenical-wall-papers

Geographic Context

Publication place: Lansing, MI

Mentioned in annotation: East Lansing, MI; Ann Arbor, MI