“There is nothing like the smell of books, both new and old. If someone ever bottled the smell, I would be all over it.”
Well, someone did. Not only bottled the smell of books as perfume but there are also candles and home sprays as well.
I’ve heard people say: “I just can’t read electronic books. I miss the smell, the paper under my fingertips, the soft sound of pages turning…”
Can we do something to change that experience? Reading electronic books does not mean we have to give up on one of the most wonderful scents in the world – the smell of books.
There are many home and beauty products out that evoke the book smell: book-scented candles, fragrances, and home sprays, with a combination of woody notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla or leather over an underlying mustiness…and more. The range is fascinating: from the inky scent of new books to the leathery tone of old libraries or a touch of mildew mixed with a trace of jasmine in mothballs and wet paper antique smell.
What if I told you that we can recreate not only your favorite book but also the characters and events described? Yes, we can do just that!
Just close your eyes and think about fragrances that stir from your memory when you think about that special book: we’ll find the match…
If you wish to get the scent of books all over you, try CB Hate Perfume – “In The Library“, for example.
It feels calming, woody, and with a hint of leather.
Created by: Christopher Brosius
“The main note in this scent was copied from one of my favorite novels originally published in 1927. I happened to find a signed first edition in a pristine condition many years ago in London. I was more than a little excited because there were only ever a hundred of these in the first place. It had a marvelous warm woody slightly sweet smell and I set about immediately to bottle it.”
In the Library is a warm blend of English Novel*, Russian & Moroccan Leather Bindings, Worn Cloth and a hint of Wood Polish. The smell of books!
If you would like to recreate that sweet smell of a library, the smell of books, a specific book, or atmosphere at your home or office (or a book store, for that matter) – that’s possible. Just as you have carefully designed visual elements of your home or a workplace, tactile, and musical ambiance, do not miss to create an olfactory experience you will enjoy and be remembered by.
Oh, how I love the smell of books!
The Plum Girl
Elena Cvjetkovic
The smell of books quotes:
“She breathed deeply of the scent of decaying fiction, disintegrating history, and forgotten verse, and she observed for the first time that a room full of books smelled like dessert: a sweet snack made of figs, vanilla, glue, and cleverness.” – NOS4A2
“He found himself in a room not unlike the shop. All books again, packed tight on shelves or laying in piles on every surface. It was a cozy room, for all that ; it smelled of warm, rich words and very deep thoughts.” – Midnight for Charlie Bone
Books, books, books. It was not that I read so much. I read and re-read the same ones. But all of them were necessary to me. Their presence, their smell, the letters of their titles, and the texture of their leather bindings. — Colette
Between the covers of the books that no one had ever read again, in the old parchments damaged by dampness, a livid flower had prospered, and in the air that had been the purest and brightest in the house an unbearable smell of rotten memories floated. — Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Photo: Johanna Goodyear @Dreamstime, George Sharvashidze Pexels