The Beloved Book Deconstructed

Tired, Dusty and Tattered! Photo by Roger Salz and retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.
Tired, Dusty and Tattered! Photo by Roger Salz and retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.

My mother worked in a library for more 36 years before retiring and then re-entering the workforce to work in yet another library. And, throughout the last ten years, each member of my immediate family, including myself, has worked in a library. So to me the sight and smell of books brings back a host of familial memories. But I never really understood what created the unique scents of a book/book collection. I always suspected it was a concoction consisting of one part ink to two parts paper-lovingly combined with a pinch of dust.  Did you know AbeBooks, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc., created a short video answering this very question. Click here to listen to their explanation.

In addition, if you are a hardback collector or book enthusiast, here is list of other quick videos you might finding interesting:

  • How to identify a first edition book (link)
  • Book collecting Guide (link) -10 videos

Tip: If you participate in student/class orientations for a library, consider using the video about The Parts of a Book to supplement your presentation.

2 thoughts on “The Beloved Book Deconstructed”

  1. According to Mike Wolfe, How to Turn Junk into Treasure, the most expensive book ever sold was to Bill Gates for $30.8 million (2013). Care to guess the title?
    Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester.

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