The book smells

I recently bought a cookbook at a sale. I bought Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Christmas Cookies at a yard sale for $2. It has an almost unbearable perfume odor, like somebody spilled a bottle of perfume on it. (Now we know why it was only $2.) It seems like a nice book, but it's all I can do to even flip through the pages, the smell is that bad. I didn't really notice that it was so bad when I bought it, probably because the sale was outside.

What can I do to try to eliminate the odor? Put the book outside? Just throw it away? To me, throwing a cookbook in the trash is almost blasphemous; I just can't bring myself to do it. Besides, it's a cookie book and DH is the original Cookie Monster. I'm always looking for new cookies to make for him.

I don't think simply sticking a sheet of fabric softener is going to work (that's what I did when a friend gave me some cookbooks that smelled of cigarette smoke and it worked). This smell is strong. Right now, the book is outside on the front porch.

Any ideas? Please?

Hmm, maybe seal it up in a bag with some activated charcoal?

Or baking soda?

I second the baking soda idea. It might make for cleaning the book a little funky but I would just dump a box in a bag and shake it up and sprinkle some between the pages. I know it sounds goofy but baking soda is amazing and so far for me has killed major odor issues Ive had in the house (especially when we first moved in...icky previous tenants)

You could try the baking soda route first since you undoubtedly have some around. BUT in my experience, nothing gets those old soaked in perfume smells out of a porous material. I have several cabinets in my home that had to be painted with kilz because nothing would get rid of the old lady perfume smell (which would make anything put in those cabinets smell).

This is the reason why I don't read books...

Someone gave me a book to read once that she thought was such a great read. It smelled so bad of her awful perfume I left it outside for weeks, then finally threw it away. I can't stand smells. Throw it away.

I would do the baking soda. Or scan it!

Originally Posted by otto

Throw it away.

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I bought some old comic books that smelled terrible. I put them in a big ziplock with some dryer sheets...not sure if it's worked yet but it wouldnt hurt to try

If baking soda doesn't work, I definately second the idea of scanning all the pages. Then you can just toss the book while still keeping all the recipes.

I can never bring myself to throw a book away either, don't feel bad.

But I am strange, and I smell every book before I buy it. I like the smell of used books, but I've ran across a few that I wanted but smelled like throw-up so I kindly left them at the store.

Originally Posted by LDG

Or baking soda?

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That would work, too, but how about (seriously) kitty litter? Wouldn't that absorb the odor, and hey, I know you must have some lying around the house?

I work in a library. One of my former jobs was the head of the mending section. We sometimes had smelly books returned--the worst was a gasoline-smelling one. Think I took it home, opened it, and let it sit by a fan for hours. I think it worked somewhat. Perfume may be harder--I once spilled homemade cologne on papers on my desk, and those darned papers STILL have a faint whiff, 9 years later!

I once bought a "brand-new" book from a seller on eBay. When I got it, it smelled as if the book had been a heavy smoker--I literally got an immediate headache and nausea from the intense odor, it was that strong (that had never happened before). Bear in mind, until 6 years ago, I lived with a heavy smoker (Mom), so I'm used to the smell, and NEVER had gotten sick from it. When I contacted the seller, she was very nasty, claiming that the "book was just out the box from the publisher". She didn't know that I had spent 20 years working in a library receiving department, and I know that publishers, etc. would NEVER allow smoking in their warehouses, etc.--we've never had a case of this, and we get in 10's of thousands of items a year. She now knows this! We had a lively exchange of emails--I told her that she "need[ed]to talk to the books about the dangers of smoking--if you don't, who will?" I had thought I had to trash the book, but it aired out (this was nearly 2 years ago). I left her negative feedback, and, when she saw that, sent me a nasty email saying the positive she left for me really should've have been a negative (eBay had just revised the feedback policy--sellers can no longer leave neutrals nor negs for buyers--and this jerk was a good reason why I think they changed the policy).

Originally Posted by 3CatsN1Dog

I second the baking soda idea. It might make for cleaning the book a little funky but I would just dump a box in a bag and shake it up and sprinkle some between the pages. I know it sounds goofy but baking soda is amazing and so far for me has killed major odor issues Ive had in the house (especially when we first moved in...icky previous tenants)

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I did that once before when I bought a used text book for school that wound up stinking horribly. The baking soda trick works!

If you leave the book in a bag for a few days that should help take the odor out.

Originally Posted by 3CatsN1Dog

I second the baking soda idea. It might make for cleaning the book a little funky but I would just dump a box in a bag and shake it up and sprinkle some between the pages. I know it sounds goofy but baking soda is amazing and so far for me has killed major odor issues Ive had in the house (especially when we first moved in...icky previous tenants)

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I did that once before when I bought a used text book for school that wound up stinking horribly. The baking soda trick works!

If you leave the book in a bag for a few days that should help take the odor out.

Thanks guys. The book's pages have been sprinkled with baking soda and placed in a plastic bag with more baking soda. It's in the basement on a shelve and I'll keep it there for about a week. If it takes longer, I'll keep working with it for awhile.

I really don't want to throw the book away if I don't have to.

Stay tuned!

Maybe after a few days, shake off the old baking soda and put fresh baking soda in there? I'm guessing with perfume it'll need at least a few "treatments" if it's going to work.

Many years ago (20? 22?) I had a cat pee on a book. For reference to anyone on here, obviously there's no saving a book after that happens.

Cat pee on a book?? That book would definitely go into the trash!

Originally Posted by otto

Someone gave me a book to read once that she thought was such a great read. It smelled so bad of her awful perfume I left it outside for weeks, then finally threw it away. I can't stand smells. Throw it away.

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After reading everyone else's good ideas, I take back my response to throw it away without trying first.

let us know what, if anything, works!