Old and rare children's books

Lorence Johnston wants me to smell an old book. He tilts a hefty brown tome at least 30cm long with the binding facing away and gently flips the pages towards me. I expect a mustiness but I get a warm cigar-like smell with faint vanilla. "That's a 300-year-old book smell," he says.

Johnston is the owner of Lok Man Rare Books, which specialises in collectibles. The volume he's been showing me is A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary, a guidebook compiled by the Jesuit historian Jean-Baptiste Du Halde in 1735.

via Business feed http://www.scmp.com/business/money/spending/article/1119902/old-and-rare-childrens-books