All libraries have the characteristic scent of books, be they crisp and newly bound, reaching middle age or thoroughly yellowed and delicate to the touch. Some researchers are even starting to date old books on the basis of their characteristic smell, which always seems to invite attention and often much distraction when a short visit to the library becomes a day lost amid a sea of books. It seems the great minds of old whisper hints of their offerings through the regal smell of their works when we enter the stacks. There is a place in Oxford above the Bodleian library’s underground storage stacks where you can smell the books on the air coming up through a vent in the street. Maybe this is why Oxford retains such a studious pool of talent.
(Source: noseknows)
