As a graduate student in Laramie, Wyo., in the 1990s, Sarah Mentock spent many weekends hunting for bargains at neighborhood yard sales. On one of those weekends, she spotted “The Lord of the Isles,” ...

Old books can be beautiful to look at. But handle with care — they just might be toxic. The covers of Victorian-era books are already known to sometimes have pigments that contain toxic heavy metals ...

Plenty of people find the smell of old books to be comforting, but the source of that scent might come as a surprise, seeing as dying plants are the culprit.