Cleaning second-hand books

I’ve rarely had problems buying used, second-hand books, but I did have a “bad” experience recently. I bought a second-hand book on eBay. When I received it, it wasn’t the traces of glue on the cover that I first noticed, but the foul smell of cold tobacco on the pages. So I set out to find out how I could clean this second-hand book and make it as good as new. In this article, I explain how to remove bad smells, clean book covers, and “disinfect” them, without harmful products.

Removing a musty, damp or tobacco smell from a second-hand book

Tip tested and approved on my book with the unbearable smell of old tobacco:

• Place the book in a box (ideally one that allows it to stand upright, to “air” the pages) in which you’ve put baking soda. You can mix a little essential oil with the bicarbonate to impregnate the pages with its scent (which is what I did), but just a drop so as not to dampen the bicarbonate. I placed a small cloth under the book to prevent it from ending up with lots of grains between the pages.

• Leave the box closed for 3 days.

• If the smell has persisted, you may need to put some bicarbonate between the pages: use this as a last resort, as you’ll then need to take the time to remove the grains (the biggest will go away when you shake the book by the edge, but you’ll probably need to rub the pages anyway to remove the remaining grains).

Result: no more bad smells, the pages now smell of lavender.

Traces of glue on a book cover

To remove glue, there’s nothing like oil. So I put a little vegetable oil on a cloth and rubbed where there were traces of glue. You can add a little bicarbonate of soda to make a little scrub (go easy and gradually so as not to damage the cover). Of course, use a very small dose, as the aim is not to leave greasy stains on the book’s pages!

“Disinfecting” the cover of a second-hand book

If you’re afraid of bacteria or the like, there’s nothing like good old-fashioned household white vinegar. Again, use sparingly to avoid blunders. Take a small cloth, soak it in vinegar (personally, I have a vinegar spray I use to clean my glasses and other small screens, so I use that to avoid soaking the cloth too much) and rub the blanket with it for a little clean. A drop of essential oil in the vinegar will give the book a natural, pleasant scent.

If you’re really afraid of bacteria, you can clean the pages with bicarbonate of soda (leave for a day or two), but then you’ll have a lot of fun getting it all off…

It’s worth noting, however, that most of the time, books are just a little dusty, and a wipe with a cloth can solve the problem!