Ahhhhh new book smell

So, who doesn’t love that giddying aroma of a new book?

For those that like to dig beneath the romanticism to some bare bones facts here is what you’re actually smelling: varying amounts of Vinyl acetate ethylene; alkyl ketene dimer and hydrogen peroxide just to name a few of the chemicals behind that addictive perfume.

In total, books will actually give off several hundred volatile organic compounds!

'The aroma of new books' By Compound Interest (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
‘The aroma of new books’ By Compound Interest (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

For a constant supply of New Books – and their smell- sign up to our monthly feed of new titles and be the first to know what’s new!

Comments are closed.