“Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting the weeping habit, is a polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin. When made into paper and stored for years, it breaks down and smells good. Which is how divine providence has arranged for secondhand bookstores to smell like good quality vanilla absolute, subliminally stoking a hunger for knowledge in all of us.” — Perfume: The Guide
Another reason why people will continue to love physical books. I’m still loving eBooks. Maybe years from now they will smell like old yellowed plastic.
I honestly don’t know if I like the smell of lignin. Sometimes when I open up a really old book, I sneeze. I’m not sure if that’s the lignin or the mold or the dust. Do you like old book smell?