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If you’re into reading， you’ll probably have noticed how a brand new book has a rather special smell. Yes， it’s that new book smell—and it’s quite different from the smell of an older book. What’s going on？
Books have been around for about 4，500 years. Some of the earliest books come from the fifth dynasty of Egypt， about 2，400 BC. They were written on papyrus1—similar to modern paper， but thicker.
They made papyrus sheets by weaving together the stems of the papyrus plant into a sheet， and then smoothing out the bumps by pounding the woven sheet with some kind of mallet.2 But these were scrolls， a continuous roll of paper， rather than “the book” as we think of it today， which is a collection of individual sheets， stuck together along one edge so that the pages hinge3 on that side.
The book， in its modern form， began to appear around the first century AD. These books had the advantages of being easier to read than a scroll， easier to find a specific page， and you could stack4 them more efficiently than you could with scrolls.
In the early days， books were heavy and cumbersome5. Each book had to be made individually by hand—with every word on every page written by a scribe.
So by 800 AD， a large library might hold only 500 books. Around 1045 AD， the Chinese inventor， Bi Sheng， came up with movable type made of earthenware—mud or clay， not metal.
Unfortunately， neither his printing press nor any books made with it have yet been found.
So the credit usually goes to Johannes Gutenberg for devising the printing press with movable type.6 He independently invented it around 1450 AD.
Suddenly， books could be produced much more rapidly. Adding steam power meant that by 1800 AD， a printing press could deliver over 1，000 sheets per hour.
So， where does the smell come from？ Three sources—the paper， the ink and the glue.
The Chinese first came up with paper like our modern paper around 200 AD. This invention slowly spread westward to Muslim countries， and then to Europe.
Now there’s a big difference between a lump of wood， and a sheet of paper. The wood has to be crushed， and then chemicals have to be used.
Chemicals have to be added to make the wood fibres swell， to remove acid， to bleach the paper to the desired grade of whiteness， to confer some degree of water resistance， to add a sheen to the paper， and so on.7
That’s part of the smell： each chemical comes with its own odour.
Books have been around for about 4，500 years. Some of the earliest books come from the fifth dynasty of Egypt， about 2，400 BC. They were written on papyrus1—similar to modern paper， but thicker.
They made papyrus sheets by weaving together the stems of the papyrus plant into a sheet， and then smoothing out the bumps by pounding the woven sheet with some kind of mallet.2 But these were scrolls， a continuous roll of paper， rather than “the book” as we think of it today， which is a collection of individual sheets， stuck together along one edge so that the pages hinge3 on that side.
The book， in its modern form， began to appear around the first century AD. These books had the advantages of being easier to read than a scroll， easier to find a specific page， and you could stack4 them more efficiently than you could with scrolls.
In the early days， books were heavy and cumbersome5. Each book had to be made individually by hand—with every word on every page written by a scribe.
So by 800 AD， a large library might hold only 500 books. Around 1045 AD， the Chinese inventor， Bi Sheng， came up with movable type made of earthenware—mud or clay， not metal.
Unfortunately， neither his printing press nor any books made with it have yet been found.
So the credit usually goes to Johannes Gutenberg for devising the printing press with movable type.6 He independently invented it around 1450 AD.
Suddenly， books could be produced much more rapidly. Adding steam power meant that by 1800 AD， a printing press could deliver over 1，000 sheets per hour.
So， where does the smell come from？ Three sources—the paper， the ink and the glue.
The Chinese first came up with paper like our modern paper around 200 AD. This invention slowly spread westward to Muslim countries， and then to Europe.
Now there’s a big difference between a lump of wood， and a sheet of paper. The wood has to be crushed， and then chemicals have to be used.
Chemicals have to be added to make the wood fibres swell， to remove acid， to bleach the paper to the desired grade of whiteness， to confer some degree of water resistance， to add a sheen to the paper， and so on.7
That’s part of the smell： each chemical comes with its own odour.