Kind of funny, these were exactly the same questions I got when being interviewed on the phone for participation in a Tolkien quiz show for television (I guess Beregond recommended me since he didn't want to participate himself!). The idea with the show was to include clips from the homes of the participants; after I answered negatively to all these questions, I never heard back from them!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI. ... :WNA:US:1123#ht_805wt_932

Good price, djs are a little shabby, though.

Thank you, Peetaand gilraen! I'll check out that link.

I will let you know if I have any luck with the treatment.

Thanks for your reply, Khamul!

Yes, looking at these photos at Bookologist.com, I recognize the brown stains:

http://www.bookologist.com/cab/abu/y203/m03/bk0001/s03

As Craig Stark here points out,



Hopefully, then, my antiseptic treatment and the environment of my library will prevent any spreading of the infestation to other books.

I've kept the books and a dish of baking soda in a "box" made of two plastic bags for about 48 hours. I'll leave them another 48 hours, and if still smelly, I might repeat the treatment.

So, today I received a set of GAU The Lord of the Rings, 1968, 2nd ed./3rd impr. (bought them for a good price, £20 GPB).

There is a tendency to a growth of mildew, which I gather from the "old books" odor and some tiny, brown stains sprinkled across the fore-edge. However, the books are in a quite good condition, with unfaded dustjackets, so I believe it might still be worth trying to salvage them.

The books are dry, so I'm thinking of applying hydrogen peroxide in order to eliminate the mildew.

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to remove the odor? I've read about various methods involving treatment with baking soda (put books in a bag with the baking soda, or sprinkle baking soda on pages).