So THAT's Why Old Books Smell So Good

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about why hardback books almost always get released before paperbacks. 

But having recently cracked open a decades-old Austen story, I was left with another literary question – why do old ones smell so, so good? 

Well, in a recent episode of the behind-the-scenes showbiz podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, co-hosts Richard Osman and Marina Hyde shed light on my query.

Thursday Murder Club author Richard Osman joked: “That’s why I signed with [book publisher] Penguin. Yeah. Because they promised me the smell.” 

Why do old books smell so good?

According to the author, there’s no intrinsic “book smell”.

“I had a chat with some of the production people at [publishing company] Viking... and they said a number of things,” Osman continued. 

“The smell has almost nothing to do with the paper that is chosen... The paper itself doesn’t have a strong smell.” 

Instead, he said, stronger paper scents happen as the sheets degrade, which is why an “old book smell” is so distinctive. 

“The paper decays and emits a range of different smells. So what you’re smelling there is decaying paper,” he added. 

But as he points out, there’s more to a book than just its sheets – ink and glue, and in some cases leather, are all used. 

These all interact with the pages over time, leading to a smell that the International League for Antiquarian Booksellers describes as a hint of vanilla.

“Lignin, which is present in all wood-based paper, is closely related to vanillin,” they write.

“As it breaks down, the lignin gives old books that faint vanilla scent.”

Hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released as books age 

According to a 2009 study, the smell of old books is down mostly to VOCs, which are released in their hundreds over time. 

The study’s lead author, Matija Strlic, described the aroma of the chemical breakdown as “a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness”.

“This unmistakable smell is as much a part of the book as its contents,” they added.