Why Old Books Smell Like Old Books

I’m one who loves the smell of old books. There’s something about the smell of musty and slightly-decaying old paper that I find comforting. (Oddly, when I smell something decaying in the back of the fridge, it’s significantly less comforting.) If you’d like to know why old books smell the way they do, here’s a great little video from Abe Books on how an old book is really like an experiment in organic chemistry, with a variety of elements coming together to produce their unique fragrance.