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I remember a shipment we got in from the U.K which was all mildewed; all the books. Definitely did not have the nice “old book” smell. We all gave them a good sniff; “Do these smell mouldy to you?” and contacted our conservator, who said “Put on a mask, gloves, and eye protection and pack them in plastic bags and send them to us for treatment”. And I said “Yeah, about that … we’ve all snuffled them pretty good. That horse has left the barn and the barn burned down”.
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My fourth book (first novel) came out at the beginning of this year, and I simply must say… the smell that wafts up from those new shipment boxes makes my heart soar. It’s pride that get’s to rub elbows with my nostalgia… my books don’t smell the same as the classics, but they do smell like mine. That joy never gets old, even as time itself does.
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So jealous! Librarian at a rare books collection is my dream job.
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I have a different reaction: that of wonder, awe, and joy. That there are more books than could be read in a hundred lifetimes is a testament to human knowledge and creativity!
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I like the second-hand bookshops you find in some British seaside towns like Robin Hood’s Bay and Lyme Regis, where you can buy a book for 50p, read it on holiday, and sell it back for 25p or keep it for your own library. Great places to find OOP novels from the mid to late 20th century.
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Is this where old people smell comes from?
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The book burning scene in Nostradamus (1994) with Tchéky Karyo about killed me. I had to leave the room I was crying so hard.
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I remember reading some George Orwell quotes about how working in a bookshop had led him to hate these smells.
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I landed in it almost accidentally; started out as a children’s librarian (I’ve done my “time” in Toddler Hell), got reorged, but I had met the head of the collection and she knew that I had a shared interest in the field and because of that contact, I had an “in”.
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just do what i do! strap old books straight to your body.
you get that nice old smell and they make great conversation starters. or, for those occasions when it seems people only want to point and stare at you and your books: you’ve got plenty to read.
just don’t let biblichor become petrichor; books are much heavier when wet
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I have been delighted by the smell of old books for decades, discovering it as a child. The book that comes to mine is, “Little Women”, that brought this home. When I smell an old book, a lifetime of memories and experiences floods my awareness. It is astonishing how powerful is such a phenomenon.
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Each one a portion of the author’s body of work.
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I’m very glad you’re okay after that and I hope you didn’t suffer any ill effects at the time. A librarian I work with opened a box of mildewed books and ended up hospitalized with a respiratory infection. Fortunately she recovered but boxes of old books are treated a lot more carefully now.
Still just the smell and feel of real books is one of the things I miss from my old days working in the mailroom. Now pretty much everything I deal with is online.
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Thanks; we were all fine in the end.
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