Yup, same to me. The article quotes someone complimenting the smell: "It’s the smell that seduces me. Like incense." (It turns out there's a good reason, the lignin in paper produces vanilla-like compounds when it decomposes.)
I'm from East Texas, and their libraries smelled like that when I was a kid. They had air conditioning by that time but it was recent enough that the "biblichor" (if I can coin the word - see "petrichor") persisted. Incense, yes.
gemmadonati t1_ja0wfgx wrote
Reply to comment by cuddly_cali in What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful? by zsreport
Yup, same to me. The article quotes someone complimenting the smell: "It’s the smell that seduces me. Like incense." (It turns out there's a good reason, the lignin in paper produces vanilla-like compounds when it decomposes.)
I'm from East Texas, and their libraries smelled like that when I was a kid. They had air conditioning by that time but it was recent enough that the "biblichor" (if I can coin the word - see "petrichor") persisted. Incense, yes.