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Anyone know how to get the musty smell out of books?

Anyone know how to get the musty smell out of books?

Megan #recommend

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29 Answers

Kelly

Baking soda. Just sprinkle it between a few of the pages and leave it open. Then just shake it out good outside after a couple of days.

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Jill

Baby powder

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Karyn

I work at a Library and we use dryer sheets. Put a couple in a ziplock bags with the books

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Christine

Baking soda. Gets rid of odor and moisture

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Joel

The allure of books over Kindle or other e-devices is both its tactile and aromatic nature. Why would you want to get rid of the biblichor? Even if it’s not an old book, but had water damage, it’s still part of the overall experience. 🙁
You must hate libraries.

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Chip

Or maybe she doesn’t enjoy her books smelling like mildew.

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Joel

Then she should buy a Kindle. 🙂

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Joel

Obviously. Don’t take things so seriously.

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Joel

Image may contain: sky, cloud and outdoor
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Joel

I’m sorry you have no sense of humour. 🙁 Perhaps you can purchase one soon.
I couldn’t care less what she does. I personally love the scent of biblichor, end of. Signed, Booklover.

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Luca

There is the “comforting, faint and musty smell of old books” and there is the rank stench of old books that have not had air circulating round them. I was given forty copies of Blackwoods magazine: they were dated 1908 onwards. The smell was vile. I put them open in the sunlight every day.

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Jacqueline

Buy a kindle ? no musty smells!!!

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Joel

That was my point. 😉 It’s a shame some people are so sensitive to smells. No fault of her own, of course. But, I like the biblichor or “musty” smell of old books.

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Donna

I got a book from a friend who was a smoker and I put the book outside in fresh air and eventually it went away. But, musty smells are different because I believe it has something to do with the chemicals in the paper, so not sure if that would help.

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Connie

There is no way ? never gets off completely

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Kari

Sunlight or the silica packs you get that are shoved in shoes and such.

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Angel

never heard of the silica packs, great idea!

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Priscilla

I have a jar full of those packs and one for the packs you get in meds, which I use in aspirin bottles. ?

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Angel

I have a bunch of them too, collecting in the bottom of a little plastic tub that I empty my dogs rawhide treats into.

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Kari

Depends on how bad, but they work great for me. I live in Ga so humidity gets to books no matter what, and they smell. Throw in a few packs and seal them in a tote for a week. Repeat as needed.

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Ronnie

Cigarette smoke smell on books I take out of the library are just as bad too. I can’t read some.

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Sandra

Yep, I have had to not read something, turn it in, have them reorder it. Allergic to cigarette smoke.

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Ronnie

@Sandra me too, allergic

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Sandra

Sucks. People laugh when I tell them that, so I carry a copy of my allergy report with me. Shellfish, Mold, Soy too.

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Ronnie

@Sandra I’m not allergic to the others. I’m a lifelong asthmatic who grew up in a household of smokers. It’s disgusts me, yet alone almost killed me, more than once.

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Priscilla

Sunlight. ?

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MeganQuestion author

Thank you all for the advice ?

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Bruce

Buy new books only.

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Susan

I love that smell

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