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The smell 

of old books

The characteristic grassy aroma 

of old books is at the heart of 

a new method of assessing the 

degree of ageing of old books. 

Known as ‘material degradomics’, 

it was developed by a team of 

British and Slovenian researchers, 

in particular at University College 

London and the University of 

Ljubljana, and published in the 

journal Analytical Chemistry. Unlike 

traditional techniques this has the 

major benefit of not damaging the 

documents analysed as it is based 

solely on the aroma they emit. 

As they age, books give off volatile 

organic compounds (VOCs) 

that are responsible for the distinc-

tive aroma. The scientists analysed 

the COVs emitted by 72 historic 

works with a composition typical 

of the 19

th

 and 20

th

 centuries. 

The 15 most abundant COVs 

were chosen as deterioration 

markers and related statistically 

to the principal paper components 

(resin, lignin, carbonyl, etc.) and 

some of their chemical parame-

ters, such as pH. The recorded 

levels of each marker thus provide 

a kind of ‘digital fingerprint’ of 

a book at a given moment. 

This information could help 

museums and libraries in setting 

restoration priorities and refining 

the methods.