I think I have an affliction

Hans Tucker (Hans) · #1 18-07-2023, 10:41 PM

After wandering into Robinson's Bookshop I am certain I have come down with a case of Bibliosmia.

xelasnave · #2 18-07-2023, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Tucker

After wandering into Robinson's Bookshop I am certain I have come down with a case of Bibliosmia.

There should be a word for such a condition.

Alex

glend (Glen) · #3 19-07-2023, 12:28 AM

I am amazed book stores still exist.

leon · #4 19-07-2023, 06:21 AM

I do love book shops especially the second hand versions, one can wander for hours and find some special stuff.

Leon

Hans Tucker (Hans) · #5 19-07-2023, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xelasnave

There should be a word for such a condition.

Alex

Granted, Bibliosmia is not an official word but I will take the opportunity to use it as an un-official term to describe the stimulation of the olfactory senses when walking into a bookshop. Strangely I don't get the same fix when printing off documents at work.

Hans Tucker (Hans) · #6 19-07-2023, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glend

I am amazed book stores still exist.

We see many a media come and go but print seems to withstand obsolescence. I notice a lot of young people picking up the print for a good read rather than scrolling on their phones.

RB (Andrew) · #7 19-07-2023, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Tucker

Granted, Bibliosmia is not an official word but I will take the opportunity to use it as an un-official term to describe the stimulation of the olfactory senses when walking into a bookshop. Strangely I don't get the same fix when printing off documents at work.

Oh, if only mimeographs would make a comeback.
Primary school back then was different from today.

leon · #8 19-07-2023, 07:23 AM

Mimeograph,

wow Andrew are you really that old.

Leon

RB (Andrew) · #9 19-07-2023, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Mimeograph,

wow Andrew are you really that old.

Leon

Yep, I'm 56

I remember the machines were in the staff room and teachers would go make copies and hand them out.
We'd all sit there sniffing the pages.

AstroViking (Steve) · #10 19-07-2023, 08:15 AM

Hans - I've heard good things about "Sainsbury's" out in/near Camberwell. If their online catalogue is anything to go by, it's a gold-mine of old books.

Also, a very long time ago I was recommended 'Slow Glass' books, somewhere in the Melbourne CBD. I never got around to finding them (and I suspect they are long gone) so we might have lost another source of old books.

Oh, and I also remember the mimeograph machines. It was a real privilege to be given the opportunity to run off copies of things, then stagger back to the classroom in a state of 'not totally connected to reality'.

Regards,
V

RB (Andrew) · #11 19-07-2023, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AstroViking

Oh, and I also remember the mimeograph machines. It was a real privilege to be given the opportunity to run off copies of things, then stagger back to the classroom in a state of 'not totally connected to reality'.

Regards,
V

Yep !!!
Oh, such a privilage !!

raymo · #12 19-07-2023, 02:49 PM

They hadn't invented a machine for duplicating the clay tablets that we used ar school.
raymo

xelasnave · #13 19-07-2023, 03:47 PM

We did not have pens or paper until 3 rd class. We learnt to read and write using a slate..and you may laugh but that is the truth.

Alex

xelasnave · #14 19-07-2023, 04:15 PM

]We did not have pens or paper until 3 rd class. We learnt to read and write using a slate..and you may laugh but that is the truth.
AND the pens came with their own ink well in which you dipped the pen to get ink to write...
Alex

glend (Glen) · #15 19-07-2023, 04:18 PM

"Love the smell of mimeiographs in the morning". Yes, I am certainly that old. I used to be sent down to the office to pick up a stack of them. I am fairly certain sniffing them has resulted in the white matter lesions on my MRI.

OzEclipse (Joe Cali) · #16 19-07-2023, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xelasnave

]We did not have pens or paper until 3 rd class. We learnt to read and write using a slate..and you may laugh but that is the truth.
AND the pens came with their own ink well in which you dipped the pen to get ink to write...
Alex

Alex,
Don't you mean hammer, chisel, and heiroglyphs?

:r ofl:
Joe (not that far behind you)

Huey (Michael) · #17 19-07-2023, 06:27 PM

I am surprised no one has mentioned the smell of second hand or older books in the bookshops. In my younger days I spend hours in the university library to find books, magazines, or periodicals and enjoy the smell of these treasures. And yes I second Alex's sentiment and also learned to write on a slate in my first years of school. We started by dipping our pen tip into an inkwell and only later progressed to a fountain pen. That was in another country in another millennium and in case anyone asks, I am 72.

Clear skies to all

Huey

leon · #18 20-07-2023, 06:19 AM

You must be my age Alex

i do remember the slates and ink wells very well.

Leon

sharkbite · #19 20-07-2023, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Tucker

After wandering into Robinson's Bookshop I am certain I have come down with a case of Bibliosmia.

Not a life-threatening disease and no syptoms...

my doctor suggested taking a "Little book of calm" and a lie down....worked wonders!

dikman (Richard) · #20 20-07-2023, 09:13 AM

I remember being the "inkwell monitor", my job was to fill the inkwells.

Huey, you are so right, old bookshops have their own very unique smell (old book smell?). It always feels so welcoming.

When I was at High School I occasionally worked in the library, I felt more at home there than playing sports and the librarian would sometimes ask me to read a new book to get my thoughts on it, as unlike most of my classmates I liked to read.