From Martha Stewart concerning a musty smelling book: suggestions contributed by the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts, and Glenn Horowitz Booksellers in East Hampton and New York City. Both our experts agree that there is no guaranteed way to remove the musty smell of old books, but you can try by first wiping your book with a clean, soft, barely damp cloth. Wipe off the cover, the top of the pages, and the pages themselves. If the mildew contains any moisture, open up the book and leave it in a sunny, airy place to dry. A fan will help speed up this process. Then fill the bottom of a large garbage can with odor-absorbing material such as kitty litter, charcoal, or baking soda. Kitty litter is the most inexpensive of the three. Place the book in a smaller can, and place this can inside the larger one. Cover the large can and let it sit, checking the progress of the book every several days. If all goes well, your book will be ready for reading within a month.

I had an antiqu book business for a very short while, until I got tired of situations like that! But I read this when researching: fill the bottom of a canister large enough to hold the book with fresh coffee grounds. Put something on top of that for the book to sit on, so that the air can circulate around it. Wrap the book loosely in paper toweling. Close the thing up and let it sit there a few weeks. Other way a friend used is she set it in front of one of those "Sharper Image" catalog ionizer air purifiers for a couple weeks and it took the smell right out. All old books possibly contain bookmites etc., and I don't let any come into my library without first wrapping them tighting in plastic or foil (or putting in a freezer baggie) and keeping them in my freezer for at least several weeks. This is supposed to kill the bugs and any eggs. Also, get some tea tree oil at the natural food place, mix it in some water (it has a very strong sell) wet a rag with it, wring it out, and wipe down the book very thoroughly inside and outside of the covers. Of course lots and lots of sun is very good too though may not be good for the book if it is in falling apart condition.

You can also put some dry baking soda in the container, and/or some crumpled up paper towel or newspaper - snap on the lid, and they will help absorb the smell. That was the original recommendations give out at Tupperware parties a "billion" years ago. Grainlady

I had one of those ionic cleaners and got rid of it after reading these articles: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-04-04-air-filters_x.htm http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/104/107232.htm http://www.californialung.org/spotlight/06fw_OzoneAirCleaners.html The American Lung Association of California is sponsoring legislation to protect consumers from the dangers posed by some "air purifiers" that generate ozone. Do a Goggle and you will find more info out there. These cleaners raise the indoor ozone levels and that is not good. As far as those aerosol air freshners in a can go - they do NOTHING to *remove* odors. NOTHING. What they do is spray a fine mist of OIL into the air which coats your nasal membranes so that you do not smell the odors. The odor molecules are still in the air but your nose cannot detect them. That's all. Smoke tends to 'settle' and carpets are the worst offenders. They build up layers and layers of smoke that drifted down and settled into them. If the odor problem is REALLY bad you may have to use spar varnish or something like that to *seal in the odor*. I had a bad closet in my house when I purchased it, and it smelled like BO. Awful. I washed the walls and painted and still smelled it! I had to varnish the floor and shelves, and also varnish the walls and paint over. That cured it. I had a friend who bought a house that had cat odor. I made you gag it was so bad. House smelled so bad nobody wanted to buy it. He got it CHEAP. Real cheap. He used the varnish trick and there is no more odor. None. Now he has a gorgeous Craftman Prairie style home, that he got for a song - and a couple drums of varnish. Sometimes the odor is in the wood floors and trim around the windows. Wood is porous and soaks up odors. I know it sounds like a lot of work but a light sanding and sealing may solve it for you. I know this may sound like an extreme case, but I do know a guy who bought a home that smelled of smoke so bad that nothing he did could remove it. He even hire professionals to come in for the smoke removal problem. He put in new carpet. Put in new kitchen cabinets. New vinyl flooring. He found out that the house had had a FIRE at one time, and the timbers (if that's what you call them) in the walls were either charred or just caked and coated soot and smoke from the fire. The walls had been nicely repaired but the wood structural part of the house had soaked up smoke odor from the fire. The smell was coming through the walls. There was nothing he could do about this.