I've heard the term biblichor used as a name for the smell of old books. This is derived from the words
Biblos: book
Ichor: the fluid that flows like blood in the veins of gods
> This post needs (2012) in the title, or in my opinion, deletion, since there is not much to discuss.
Why does the date matter to your statement at all? You’re really suggesting the link being replaced by a YouTube video (this content is date irrelevant anyway). Which I agree, video is the source of the info.
"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". - Faber, the retired English professor in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
The scent of old books always makes me think of this quote.
I play a number of old musical instruments from around the 1920s/1930s; diatonic accordions and a concertina. The construction of the bellows is not dissimilar from that of older books, as they're made of cardboard, leather, and hide glue. Interestingly the accordions don't really have much of a smell (except one which has cedar reedblocks, which is delicious), but the concertina smells absolutely fantastic and honestly it's a huge part of the instrument for me. If I haven't played it in a while it's one of the first things I notice again when I get it out, and my girlfriend regularly mentions how great it smells as well.
Not a huge surprise that we both love physical books as well :)
New books do, too. It is interesting how one can tell just by its smell, approximately how old a book is. To me, new ones smell more like paint (probably the ink), while older ones I can only describe as "book" --- it's certainly a distinctive smell.
«... Dzing! smells of paper, and you can spend a good while trying to figure out whether it is packing cardboard, kraft wrapping paper, envelopes while you lick the glue, old books, or something else. I have no idea whether this was the objective, but I have a few clues as to why it happened. Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting the weeping habit, is a polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin. When made into paper and stored for years, it breaks down and smells good. Which is how divine providence has arranged for secondhand bookstores to smell like good-quality vanilla absolute, subliminally stoking a hunger for knowledge in all of us».
It's not just old books. Even those just a couple of decades have this too. I recently ordered a second-hand copy Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance after misplacing my own, and it also has that peculiar smell - I love it.
It's one of my favourite smells. Right up there with ripe tomatoes and freshly baked bread. I have very strong & happy associations with all three of those smells. Whenever I pick up a book, I automatically give it a sniff.
I find myself to be somewhat allergic to old books. The older they become the more my nose runs when I spend time too close to them. It'll start slowly until eventually I get a full on sinus attack.
This was inspired by the term petrichor.