Why do old books smell so good?

This article immediately brought to mind a particular conversation in season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...<p>Jenny: &quot;Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?&quot;<p>Giles: &quot;The smell.&quot;<p>Jenny: &quot;Computers don&#x27;t smell, Rupert.&quot;<p>Giles: &quot;I know. Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a - it, uh, it has no no texture, no-no context. It&#x27;s-it&#x27;s there and then it&#x27;s gone. If it&#x27;s to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.&quot;

Jordi Roca, pastry chef from 3 Michelin star restaurant El Celler de Can Roca, designed a dessert based on the scent of old books.<p>He captures that characteristic smell using a technique called enfleurage, soaking an old book in a neutral fat and then distilling it using a device called Rotaval.<p>He then pours some drops on thin wafers that resemble book pages.<p>Here is a short video describing the process: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtube.com&#x2F;shorts&#x2F;zN2uHgX0rRA">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtube.com&#x2F;shorts&#x2F;zN2uHgX0rRA</a>

Nowadays I would be curious, and rather worried, about known carcinogens in those old books. I remember buying in the 1990s a fantasy trade paperback from Tor Books that had an enchanting floral scent, such that I frequently stuck my nose into the book while reading. I don’t know if the publisher and author had deliberately used certain paper or treated it with a certain scent, or this was just a nice coincidence. But now I wonder if I was just giving myself cancer from some chemical that was considered innocuous at the time.

There’s another book smell which I noticed in lots of kids books when I was a kid, that totally smelled like vomit. For years I thought it was because kids barfed all the time but it turns out it was the printing chemicals and paper.

I once blogged about the lack of word for this smell[0], and came across someone else that has asked this[1] too. Just like &#x27;petrichor&#x27; for the smell of fresh earth following rain.<p>I made up my own word for this, in Norwegian: &#x27;Gammelbokduft&#x27;.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;earth.hoyd.net&#x2F;lukten-av-gamle-boker-118&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;earth.hoyd.net&#x2F;lukten-av-gamle-boker-118&#x2F;</a> [1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;57416&#x2F;word-for-the-smell-of-old-books" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;english.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;57416&#x2F;word-for-th...</a>

Why really really old books smell so bad:<p>In the scribe days in England when literacy was exclusive and the texts and manuscripts were intricate and long-term artistic endeavors…<p>…the most frequent sealant used was sheep urine. IIRC. Basically there’s a LOT of reasons to wear gloves and a mask in the kind of places where they are stored for longevity.<p>Source: Early-Middle English course taught by an Oxford Man.

Every now and then you realize people have vastly different base experiences. The smell of old books makes me crinkle my nose and take shallower breaths. I don&#x27;t like it. Old dust is what I think of. Stale. My physical reaction has always made me assume it is bad for your health. Maybe hints of mold?

That smell makes me want to crap, and I&#x27;m not the only one: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mcgill.ca&#x2F;oss&#x2F;article&#x2F;general-science&#x2F;unbearable-poopness-bookstores" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.mcgill.ca&#x2F;oss&#x2F;article&#x2F;general-science&#x2F;unbearable...</a>

“Do you know that books smell like nutmeg or some spice from a foreign land? I loved to smell them when I was a boy. Lord, there were a lot of lovely books once, before we let them go”. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. After reading this as a kid, I always found this to be true. In particular, the public library pulp paperbacks on those rotating wire racks back in the 1980s.

My father worked in a paper mill and told me about the incredible fact that artificial vanilla was a byproduct of the forest industry!<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.canr.msu.edu&#x2F;news&#x2F;vanilla_is_a_forest_industry_by_product" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.canr.msu.edu&#x2F;news&#x2F;vanilla_is_a_forest_industry_b...</a>

I never understood this. They smell like old attics. Or old closets. Or, old people. None of which smell very good. I must have that soap&#x2F;cliantro gene but for books.

The question of &quot;what is old book smell?&quot; is well answered. I was hoping to get some musings about why. That is, what is it about us that makes us associate those chemicals as positive?<p>I think there can be coincidence. Some things just have a smell because like chemistry and such. The brain must represent that particular chemical signal somehow. But when it&#x27;s a noteworthy smell, when it&#x27;s the kind of thing people write articles about, I expect a little more.<p>Truffles smell good to animals because if they didn&#x27;t, animals wouldn&#x27;t dig them up and help distribute the spores. Decaying meat smells bad to animals because if it didn&#x27;t, we might eat it and get sick (that battle having been already lost to the decomposers).<p>So with that in mind, why do old books smell so good?

Fisher library in Sydney Uni. Millions of volumes in open stacks over 9 (i think) floors. &quot;Buzzing with knowledge and light&quot; as someone said back on campus many years ago. Very cool place to just go hang out. It was where I first discovered some old worn copies of Murakami &quot;Hear the Wind Sing&quot; and &quot;Pinball 1973&quot; in English. Only place I&#x27;ve ever seen them in fact.

I wonder if there is something to that association, mentally<p>I’ve been more into digital books my whole life, but before the last 10 years or so, my preference was seen as absurd by seemingly anyone that prided themselves in reading books<p>I wonder if that book smell experience is core to those people<p>I can smell it, and I remember it from being a kid too but the downsides to me outweighed it and I had choices then too. The downsides being that physical books don&#x27;t keep their page and are uncomfortable to hold, more so for kid hands, and laying down in bed to read or trying to prop up a book exacerbated its technological inferiority.<p>I always suspected for others that the smell was a greater part of the experience and association with reading a book. and maybe some prior social benefits doing it in public.

I was under the impression that all books smell &quot;good&quot; (or in any case, smells that are quite distinctive and generally not disagreeable). With time the scent changes.<p>Together with the tactile feel of the densely stacked pages the physical experience of books is just phemomenal.

I remember Dr Dobbs journals in the 90s would have a strange plasticy smell. Whenever I smell that smell in a new book I have memories of the newsagent I used to buy them from and nostalgia for the enjoyment a new issue would bring.

Kind of disappointing that we don&#x27;t have the technology to store smells, say, in an iPad, and retrieve them when we open an e-reader app.<p>Scent was the first sense that we acquired in evolution, yet the last one we technologically master.

Lignin breaking down smells nice, sure. but let&#x27;s not forget, old books might be carrying mold spores that can trigger allergies or worse. Not to mention asbestos which was used in bookbinding till the 70s.

My favorite scent maker sells one that captures this, and it&#x27;s pretty good:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cbihateperfume.com&#x2F;306" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cbihateperfume.com&#x2F;306</a>

Always loved the smell of ink in books and graphic novels. Often times the first thing I do when I have a new book is just open it halfway and burry my nose in between the pages. Maybe it is a fetish? Hmmm. Never thought of that.<p>I also always enjoyed smelling the gas at gas stations when I was a kid, would open the window.<p>I do wonder if it&#x27;s a psychological thing, or if there is really some chemical substance that is slightly addictive.

I wish the artical attempted to address the &quot;good smell&quot; part of the title.<p>I read this article and I didn&#x27;t find it engaging... It lists some of the chemicals that cause the small. It&#x27;s no suprise that there are aromatic chemicals that cause it.<p>I would really like to know why they small <i>good</i>? Is it like petrichor? Childhood experiences that influence my perception?

What about Magic The Gathering cards? I started playing during Weatherlight as a kid and the smell of those cards was like crack for some reason.<p>I&#x27;m sure it was just some carcinogenic chemicals though.

My great great grandmothers house smelled like old books. Very found memories as a child associated with this very special sent. :)

We just need a Franciscan friar with a melodious Scottish voice and we&#x27;re all set for a murder mystery.

Whatever it is, I’d you concentrate it 10000x and inject it in mice it probably causes cancer.

Old books don&#x27;t smell good. They provoke allergies.

So is it a health hazard to work in a museum library?

Apparently I wasn&#x27;t the only one.

Not to be THAT guy, but I&#x27;m getting a definite ChatGPTish generative text feel from that article. The short sections, the FAQ restating the details from the article three paragraphs ago, etc. I hate to lead a witch hunt, but...