To a bibliophile such as Alberto Manguel , smell plays an important part. Audience members responded with their own sense impressions. To conservators and historians, smell has always played an important role in assessing the origin and condition of historic books, and in working out how to look after them. But that lack of vocabulary could be about to change, thanks to a groundbreaking project by researchers at UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, who have devised a way of relating such apparently subjective descriptions directly to the chemical composition of books.
Their study also took them beyond books themselves, to the places in which many of them are read: libraries. The life of individual books also affects their smell: how far they have travelled; whether they have been kept in damp or dry environments. The medieval manuscripts De Hamel was dealing with were created by hand on long-lasting parchment made from animal skins — which also have their own distinctive smell.
Old paper, old ink, and old stories that never stop being infinitely exciting. The smell of old books is so often linked to my memories. The contentment and satisfaction of childhood frequenting libraries has definitely made the smell of old books a joyous thing for me. Now, as an adult, I still get this jolt of pure happiness when I enter a library.
Partially because there are so many books and I really want to read them all, but partially because it smells good. Books feel good stacked in your arms. Do you ever crack open a book and get that unexplained thrill down your spine too? Does your heart ever feel so full of that knowledge that you just really love books?
The smell and feel of a book are as special to me as reading the story within the pages. Your family forgets your face. Cracking open a new book and inhaling that crispness of fresh pages, of new ink, and binding and glue and thread is something altogether special in itself.
If you have allergies, the new book smell might be gentler on the senses than the musk of an old book. I also retain the habit of breaking the back of a new hard cover when I buy it. I enjoy the feel of running my fingers up and down deep in the folds of the pages. It proclaims the book open for reading and claims it for me.
Wildbill: You are a true poet! I relate to everything you said and you put it beautifully! Is that crazy? I walk in and just sigh. And yes, I have been known to a buy a book just because of its smell, b ask strangers how their book smells, c take furtive sniffs while reading in public, d gotten my kids in the habit of smelling books too.
I truly thought I was the only one. This changes everything. Love the smell of old books, but new books when you get the crunch the spine of them are good too. Does anyone know the actual scientific word for this weird behaviour? Alot of people do it, so surely it has to have a name. Do any of you know how I can find out what kind of paper certain books were printed on? I'd like to someday write my own books from my story ideas and get them printed somewhere, and have that sour smell in hardcover and that strong I don't know how to describe it smell in paperback.
I'm thinking the newer paper of today might not have that same effect as the older stuff from the '70s, '80s, and early '90s. I think it's more a combination of the ink used, the paper, and just time. If you want to have a book with that smell, you could go to a local used bookstore, ebay, craigslist, etc. Yes I do at times smell the book that I am reading and after finishing a book that I have really enjoyed I will hold it to my chest, with love!!
I don't smell at particular books but I love to inhale deeply when I walk between rows of old books in the library. It's like a meditation therapy for me, whenever I feel stressed a visit to the library usually does the trick. The general smell of books can relax me. Whenever I buy a book, be it new or old, the first thing I do is open it up and take a deep whiff.
Then I flip the pages a few times because I like the sound. I do the same thing before I read a book. There's a particular warm yet acrid smell found in libraries of old leatherbound books My dad left me all of his dictionaries when he passed. He lived on a lake and kept them in his basement so they had a very musty damp smell. I put them in a plasic tote, the kind with a cover with a product called an "Air Sponge".
The product usually comes in a platic container of some kind and contains charcoal and other odor abosorbing stuff. Kept them both closed up in the tote for about a week Wonder what a Kindle smells like?? How dull is that?? I heard somewhere that printing companies used a different kind of paper than is used today, which had a stronger "sour" smell as it aged over time. I've noticed that in hardcover books of the '70s and '80s and early '90s.
If one collects older books often they find that they were stored in basements or attics. Books that are exposed to dampness get something called "book mold" which can spread from book to book and they often have a very strong musty odor. Most often not a pleasant odor Another problem is "smoke odor" We have people bring used books into the store that smell very strongly of cigarette smoke.
Usually the owner will not buy them When shelved and cared for in normal situations, older books have a particular odor all of their own. Not objectionable at all. Just different. Coincidentally, I've just been having this conversation on the Open University website and I'm amazed at how many of us there are.
With me, it's not so much old books, as it seems to be with many people. They have a slightly plasticy, chemically smell - which might explain why I love them because I'm also a fool for WD40, old-fashioned creosote, tar, felt-tipped pens, paint etc.
My daughter has inherited this "problem" too and whenever either of us has a new academic book we know the first question will always be "how does it smell? The accompanying hallucinations are just a fun side-effect. From one of the letters of Flannery O'Connor p. Do you read the National Geographic or do you smell it? I smell it.
A cousin gave me a subscription when I was a child as she noted I always made for it at her house, but it wasn't a literary or even a geographical interest. It has a distinct unforgettable transcendent apotheotic? Like no other mere magazine. If Time smelled like the Nat'l. There is another question to be asked about smelling books.
Do you just hold the book to your nose and inhale? Or do you flip thru the pages, start to finish really quickly, and inhale the breeze that it gives off? Some books smell really really bad though. I blame the ink. Maybe you have to answer the question via removing the last 2 words i. Remove "your books" from the question. Sorry, had to ask! Unrepentant book sniffer here. Those I like most are the ones where the ink and glue smells have mostly faded, and the paper sends of a whiff somewhat akin to vanilla.
Usually goes with a moderate amount of yellowing of said paper, especially in mass-market paperbacks, and probably contributes a good share of the "pleasant used-books shop smell", with just the lightest smidge of musty. I've gone so far as to design my own fragrance just to smell like book dust. It's my main comfort scent!
I don't know how to describe the smell, maybe it was sort of like magic markers or white glue. I've noticed that the books were both aged 13 years. Would a book of the same type that's printed, say, this year and stored in a library a certain way have that same smell 13 or so years from now, or are books printed with a different type of paper today than before that doesn't give off that kind of smell as it ages?
It's interesting to think about that. I'm glad I found this thread, as I have always loved to smell books ever since I can remember. Anchor and Vintage paperbacks seemed to have the nicest smells.
I think glue must have something to do with it. I guess I must really be a glue sniffer. I thought I was the only one! My friends all laugh at me for it, but if I'm uncertain about wether a book will be a good one, the sniff test always lets me know, and never ever fails. Well, unless its been in a heavy smokers house for awhile, or something like that. I feel so normal now! Book sniffing has always been one of my secret "omg people will laugh at me!
Im so wierd! Yes I also smell books, and I hug them if they are especially good reading!!! When you love books, you know you've found the right website when there are 95 posts regarding whether you smell your books. I work at a bank, and if you have never smelled fresh from the Federal Reserve money, I would suggest smelling a brand new book. That crisp, fresh smell of a brand new book is the exact same.
I can't seem to get enough of it. I think that its the ink that attracts me to the smell. Ok, cruising through random groups and saw the title of this thread Thank God I'm not the only one who smells their books! LOVE the smell of a book Best thing to smell besides horses in the world! I have a pug who sits on my lap when I read.
She won't let me read a book until she has given it a thorough sniff. Mmmm, old-book smell Most of my books have the old-book smell, however I have purchased a few brand new online and they have a very special new-book aroma.
I've just revisited one or two old books on my shelves which have a deep tobacco smell. Not the acrid, stale cigarette smell of last night's ashtray, but the deep, rich smell of a good pipe tobacco, as rich and as heavy as fruitcake.
And misrecall Kipling's "old memories that gather in the smoke". There was a character, I think it was in one of Len Deighton's books, who entered a rather dark room which was lined with shelves full of old leather bound books.
But there was a strange smell about the place, and he asked the owner what it was. He had ruined a priceless collection by soaking them with the oil. Can anyone remember, was it a Len Deighton book, and if so, which one? Mention has been made of the lack of smell of a Kindle.
It begins: "This was the time when every book in the world had been put on the tape, when long ago every catalogue in every library could be read from hundreds of flickering screens which quickly settled down into a steady blue and green twilight shade, or at times a purple, violet and pink, the colour of rainbows.
The library which had once been a murky, mysterious place was fun at last. Into this brave new world comes a man who remembers what books looked like, what they smelled like.
I love walking into books stores I always stop for a second and just enjoy the smell. I love to go to my book room at home and just sit next to them so I can enjoy it I dont do it enough. For me the smell of books is like walking into to your grandmothers house and smelling fresh baked cookies. I always call it one of my happy things in life. I swear I can even smell a used bookstore from the street sometimes! I love it! A few months ago a used bookstore opened up, and it is quite lovely.
The only disappointment is that they repainted, and it smelled of fresh paint. It still doesn't have that wonderful old book smell. I wonder how long it will take to acquire it!
Another item I love the smell of that might seem strange is Halloween Jack O'lanterns. Early in our relationship my wife and I confessed to each other that we both like to smell books. It has worked out very well. I love that slightly musty old book smell too but I really don't like when books have a smokey smell I've noticed lately that some of the new books I have read have a slight bleach smell.
I'm assuming it is the bleach they use in the paper but I don't know why I've never noticed it previously. Maybe they have changed the way they process the paper.
Yes, indeed! I love the smell of old books! It reminds me of times when I was a child. I fairly despise the Kindle, nook and other such modern contraptions. All personality and human touch is lost with this "technology". I notice people mentioning smelling books more frequently than ever.
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