Book Cleansing a Smoke-Contaminated Book

[Osgood]

Amazingly, of all the s/h books I've acquired over the years, only one (a recent purchase) has come with a smokey odour.
For the few £ it cost, I was tempted to write this one off it was so bad, but throwing books away doesn't come easy and within is a lovely collection of b/w images from the closing years of steam.


Some research suggested a popular cleansing method is to place the book in a sealed environment in the presence of bicarbonate of soda for 5 days or so.
I decided to go one stage further to give it the best chance by inserting 120gsm paper wedges in every other page, thereby separating all pages for decent airflow, and extend the period to 14 days.
I used a steel ammo box with the bicarb spread in a tray on which the book sat upright to allow good airflow up spine and around pages, and made the lid airtight with tape.


Today was opening day.
I must admit I'm quite pleased with the dramatic improvement - even if it is not perfect, maybe it will improve even more over time.

So - have any of you tried an alternative method that you could recommend?

 

[King Crab]

I'm interested in this.
My partner has a very fine sense of smell. When on occasion I bring home any secondhand railway books which might have even the faintest odour, though usually musty rather than smoke, well then it can be tricky.

Obviously the smell has zero effect on me, but I would like not to be ruffling feathers here.
So if anyone has an answer, I too would be very grateful.

Peter

PS I applaud your good taste in books, well worth rescuing.
That is one of my treasures too.
The 'New Approach' photographers were pushing the boundaries.