“There was the smell of old books, a smell that has a way of making all libraries seem the same. Some say that smell is asbestos.”

“The place was part museum, part library, and part archive; I loved it at first sight…and smell, for here there were thousands of printed books, many very old indeed, and nothing smells quite as wonderful as old books.”

“A computer does not smell… if a book is new, it smells great. If a book is old, it smells even better… And it stays with you forever. But the computer doesn’t do that for you. I’m sorry.”

“She closed the book and put her cheek against it. There was still an odor of a library on it, of dust, leather, binding glue, and old paper, one book carrying the smell of hundreds.”

“It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.”

“The air was heavy with the smell of leather and dust, of old parchment and binding glue. It smelled of secrets.”

“And how could anyone consent to give up the smell of open books, old or new?”

“I took to the Bodleian library as to a lover and… would sit long hours in Bodley's arms to emerge, blinking and dazed with the smell and feel of all those books.”

“But what is worse, smelling the roast and not feasting, or not smelling the roast at all?”

“When a kid says "smell my hand," it almost never smells like cinnamon.”