Book Smells

One of the projects I do at work is stamping new books: ink pad, press, stamp, STEENBOCK MEMORIAL LIBRARY. The covers and pages are smooth and cool. The undefiled quality soothes something inside me. Then they always have that great new book smell. Some smell like the high school English textbooks that were brand new my sophomore year - turn to page 614 for (sniiiiiiiiif) the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

There are a few distinctive new-book-smells. As I slid a book entitled "Whole Grains & Health" to the 'stamped' pile, a wave of familiar odor hit me. Something that called up feelings of childhood, and would have brought back images, had I been able to place the scent in my memory. It was a sour kind of smell - one of those, like diesel exhaust, that you secretly love because it's so not-pleasant, it makes you shiver a little. I still haven't been able to place it. One of these days, I'll mosey on over to the new books shelf for another sniff to see if I can't jog my memory.