Nothing like that old-book smell. And if you open up an old volume and think you detect notes of vanilla, there’s a good reason. That intoxicating scent is the result of lignin, a chemical compound in plants used for making paper. It has a molecular structure similar to that of vanilla. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Why Old Books Smell Good”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
The smell of old books. You walk into a used bookstore, you pull down a volume at the library. You know this smell, right, Grant? It hits you. You know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s one smell.
Yeah. How would you describe it?
Oh, childhood, libraries, memory, pleasure, all those things. It all comes from that smell. Did you know that researchers in London have analyzed that smell and they’ve come up with a description of it? They describe it as a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness.
Oh, really?
Yeah. I thought maybe it was insect poo. I didn’t want to find out more, really. That sort of sounds like a fine wine, right?
Yeah. Well, and they explain that the smell is actually the result of volatile organic compounds that are released into the air from the paper when you open up a book. And the reason that you get that vanilla in part is because of the compound lingen, which is present in the cell walls of plants. And you find it in all wood-based paper. And so the chemical structure of lingen turns out to be very, very close to vanilla. So that’s why you get those vanilla notes.
So my books are off-gassing, you’re telling me.
Exactly. I didn’t know that word until I started reading this story.
How do you know off-gassing?
I learned it because that’s what happens in a car. When the interior of a car has a particular smell, it off-gasses.
Really?
Plastics off-gas.
Yeah, they use that term in the article about books. Off-gassing. So I go into a library and I’m smelling chemistry at work. I’m smelling plant life decomposing.
You’re smelling plants, yes.
The books are slowly decomposing on the shelves then.
Yes, yes. And they use that technology. Now they’re developing this technology to work with books so that they don’t have to cut books when they’re doing analysis of them. And they can actually tell how old a book is by the waft.
Oh, that’s beautiful.
So you don’t have to destroy these ancient texts.
Yes, exactly. Tell us what that smell makes you think of. When you go to a library and you have that particular sensation, where does it take you? Does it take you to a library that you love? Does it take you to a book that you remember? A librarian who was a good friend and always recommended just the right thing. And smell like books.
Yeah.
Email words@waywordradio.org.
Thank you.
