Removing the smell of incense or similar perfumes

I was fortunate to secure an entire library of books with significant value this week. Fortunate, except in one regard. The books were stored in bankers boxes in a room where the owner mixed spiritual oils (or some such thing) that had a strong smell similar to heavy amounts of incense.

I know how to remove smoke smells from books, but in this case the source and smells are very different. Any thoughts?

Well, assuming we're dealing with volatile oils, I would suggest setting them upright on edge and fan the pages open as far as possible and let them air out for a few days. Keep the air circulating, though. This takes a while, but it should allow the vapors from the oils to dissipate.

Obviously, with a whole library to do, it will take quite a while to get them all aired out.

In my library we either do what the above commenter suggested, or we have a plastic tote containing a few room deoderizers (the short, plastic cylenders filled with scented orbs) in which we keep smelly books for a few hours. The smelly book box speeds up the process significantly but can leave a slight chemical smell instead. Good luck !