Book Sniffing: It’s Not Just You

June 12, 2024 8:16 AM

“Supposedly a true book lover adores the smell of books.”
posted by cupcakeninja (26 comments total)

Many good Asks about book smells and deodorizing books. Here’s a fun one.
posted by cupcakeninja at 8:18 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]

I am a certified book sniffer. Also the word "sniffer" is gross. But I promise it's not a perversion, exactly
posted by dis_integration at 8:33 AM on June 12 [4 favorites]

there are aspects of old library books in a good merlot.
posted by wmo at 8:47 AM on June 12 [3 favorites]

Biblichor!
posted by Ishbadiddle at 9:04 AM on June 12 [21 favorites]

What does it say about me that I enjoy Sumatran coffees that taste like wet paper and leather (ie old books)? Poly-drug use is a wondrous thing.
posted by rubatan at 9:13 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]

A real bibliophile shreds old, discarded books into a fine powder and snorts them.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:25 AM on June 12 [5 favorites]

I _do_ love the smell of old books, but I also would rather read them on my kindle.
posted by nushustu at 9:30 AM on June 12 [6 favorites]

I bought the "paperback" cologne from Demeter as a present for Dr. Indexy and it smelled almost, but not quite, entirely unlike books.
posted by indexy at 9:33 AM on June 12 [6 favorites]

A real bibliophile shreds old, discarded books into a fine powder and snorts them.

Extra credit for dissolving the powder in a glass of Old Writer whiskey and then shooting it up into a vein?
posted by Rash at 10:28 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]

For some reason a favourite jacket of mine smells exactly like my father's 1950/60s editions of A Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to The Lakeland Fells, and as a result has not been dry-cleaned in probably two decades because I'm scared it will lose its particular scent. I don't really wear it anymore, but do occasionally get it out just to check that it still smells as it should.
posted by tomsk at 10:31 AM on June 12 [3 favorites]

The aroma walking into a used book store makes me giddy. I almost swooned entering Trinity College Library's Long Room.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:43 AM on June 12 [4 favorites]

I've never nailed this down, but new, glossy color photo books, mostly hardbacks, had a particularly appealing smell when I was a kid. I mainly read these books about space or archaeology, so I thought of it as the space-book smell. This may still be the case, but unfortunately I don't buy heavy pictorial hardbacks anymore.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:50 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]

Japanese books have a certain smell. I think it's the paper. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?
posted by AlSweigart at 10:53 AM on June 12

For my money the best ones are old pulps. Really strong sweet scent. Maybe the low-grade paper breaks down faster?
posted by jy4m at 11:11 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]

Richard Feynman was known to smell books from time to time.
posted by TedW at 11:11 AM on June 12

Acidic paper pulp that they make into paperbacks is full of lignin, which degrades partially into vanillin, hence the sweet smell.
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:17 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]

I do like the smell of many books. Relatedly, I used to really love the smell of Magic (and other trading) cards. Probably glues and solvents and nothing good but very distinctive.
posted by atoxyl at 1:04 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]

I find that the smell of an old book kind of blends together with whatever else is on the shelf. When they are new they have more of that ink/solvent smell which varies with the publisher/printer.
posted by atoxyl at 1:08 PM on June 12

Perhaps the smell is the bookstore laxative effect as documented in this 2005 AskMe.
posted by frecklefaerie at 1:13 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]

Japanese books have a certain smell. I think it's the paper. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?
mulberry
posted by HearHere at 1:17 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]

Omg I have that exact copy of the Hitchhikers Guide next to me on the shelf. I can confirm that it does smell good.
posted by Illusory contour at 1:18 PM on June 12

Not being able to smell books is not the main problem with ebooks, but it's pretty high on the list
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:40 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]

Thank you for this post.

Oh, so many scents! Old leather bindings (dry vs oiled). Gilt. Pulp magazines from early 20th century. Etc. Plus the combined effect Abehammerb Lincoln mentions.
posted by doctornemo at 6:34 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]

Even when new my main weed science book smelt of 245-T (or at least that class of herbicides), along with a trace or carbaryl - it's a very odd scent and totally unlike any ink smell. I inagine a pallet of books stored in a chemical warehouse for a few years....
posted by unearthed at 2:55 AM on June 13

"Supposedly..." supposedly? What is this silliness? 'Supposedly' ... huh??
posted by From Bklyn at 4:05 AM on June 13

As stated above...walking into a used book store makes me giddy. I love the smell of old books (I collect old books as well). Imagine my disappointment when I was gifted a candle named "Old Books" and it smelled like....hay.
posted by annieb at 4:39 PM on June 13