Feedback sought for article on removing odor from books

Rye Armstrong has offered a number of solutions to mustiness in old
books, including misting with lysol, vinegar and other liquids, and
packing in cedar chips or other substitute-odor producers, etc. None
of the respondents have so far addressed this part of his request
for feedback. Am I unusual in considering any of these to be
extremely ill-advised from the point of view of book conservation,
and feeling that his serious suggestions should be addressed? Acetic
acid is recognized as being harmful to archives when it is offgassed
as a degradation product from acetate film; so why apply it directly
in the form of vinegar? In northern archives, conservators have (as
I recall) found terpenes harmful to their collections in the long
term; terpenes probably contribute to the 'piney' odor of cedar and
lysol. And so on. Except for mould and mildew, I am inclined to
regard the natural scents of old paper and leather as part of the
character of the book, as much as the handle of the paper and the
weight of the volume. Any of these should be altered only as part of
the preservation of the whole. The application of any substances to
a book for a short-term end, where long-term effects are discounted
or simply not considered, is fundamentally unsound practice.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:33
                 Distributed: Thursday, October 9, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-33-005
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