cc,
I have to ask, what is the title of this book?

Here are a few solutions that I found online. I have not tried any of them so cannot vouch for them. (VOUCH! I can put that one on the Scrabble thread!)

1. Cedar Chips: Cedar chips have done wonders for me with all kinds of odors. You get a bag at a pet store, then put the books and a load of cedar chips in a plastic garbage bag or sealed carton for a period of time. The most difficult to deodorize are art books on coated papers. How long it takes depends on the odor, but the cedar chips leave no odor.

2. Kitty Litter: Recently we purchased a math library which, while it had no apparent mildew, had that telltail odor. In addition, a couple of the volumes had "philandering pussy cat" musk about them. We plunged the books into the middle of a box of unscented clay clumping kitty litter, having first very lightly "misted" them with lysol. We held the lysol can approximately 4' above the books, and gave a very light psst! on the spray nozzle, letting the fine mist drift over them. After a week we pulled the books out of the box of kitty litter and behold, they no longer smelled.

3. Absorene: Seriously, folks, the best method of removing cigarette smell from books is Absorene paper and book cleaner. It's a pink clay that you apply like a sponge to the front and back of books. It absorbs the smell. On the ends of the books, apply very gently. The stuff is magic! You can order it through the Brodart catalog, or write to the Absorene MFG Co. at 1609 N. 14th St., St Louis, MO 63106 USA. Terrific stuff. Two cans will last all year!

4. Fabric Softener Sheets: I got this suggestion from someone on AOL last year. Tried it with an ARC of Jurassic Park which must have lived its whole life in the smoking lounge...It pretty much worked, might have worked better if I'd been more diligent or used more strips... The suggestion is to take one or two of those dryer fabric softener sheets (I use Bounce), cut them into a few lengthwise strips and place the strips here and there inside the book. Then seal the book up in a plastic bag, strips and all, and wait for some period of time which I don't remember (I left my copy sitting around for months, but that wasn't really on purpose). Probably a week or so. And no, I have no idea whether this would be chemically bad for the book's paper; certainly mine wasn't any the worse for the treatment, that I noticed anyway.

5. "For a small number of relatively small objects, you can seal the items in
a plastic bag with baking soda, clay cat litter, or activated charcoal--all
will, over time, absorb much of the offending odor."

cece, these all came from various sites on the internet when I did a google search. I hope they are useful to you. Keep us posted.

PAM

I have used Febreze with good results (after failure with baking soda, sunshine and fresh air), but if the book is collectable I would hesitate to use it as I don't know what it does to paper and bindings in the long run. I lightly spray it into the book while fannig the pages, then let the book stand with the pages fanned until it is dry. Then I put the book away for 3-4 weeks to let the chemicals work their magic. For one heavily smoked book I had to repeat the procedure. Now, about a year later, you need to really press your nose in between the pages and sniff carefully to smell any smoke at all.

I used some of the charcoal stuff you put in acquariums in the freezer compartment of my refrigerator, and it worked like a charm. I just poured some into an open dish and set it inside. You might try that with the book in a sealed plastic bag.

I've used the "Stinky Book Box" technique I gleaned from the book "The Care and Feeding of Books Old and New, A Simple Repair Manual for Book Lovers" by Margot Rosenberg and Bern Marcowitz (ISBN 0-312-30067-0). In fact I bought the book just so I could read about the stinky box which was blurbed on the back cover in the listing on Amazon.

Here, for those who want to try it is how it goes: Take a large, but sealable box (cardboard or plastic) and stand the book up in it -I found setting it slightly ajar worked for me, but wouldn't do that for a collectible book where it might strain the binding. Insert one of those solid air fresheners (the kind in thethe conical plastic container)made by Renuzit. Close box, check after a day (for a lightly stinky book, just a tad musty smelling) and more than a week for a clothbound book I ordered from eBay which reeked from cigarette smoke so badly that I had kept it out in an outbuilding for two years. The stinky box almost completely cured it in a little over a week. At first when it emerged I didn't like the smell of the air freshener and thought I had just exchanged one smell for another, only slightly less objectionable, one. However, in subsequent days the air freshener smell dissipated, but the old smoke smell did not return. It could still use a bit more stinky box time; I took it out just to make sure nothing untoward was happening. I have since wondered if I could use other products instead of renuzit. (i.e. scented candles) Also I did see and purchase an "unscented" Renuzit canister, but have not tried it yet. (Perhaps that will work even better.) The first one I used was the clean linen fragrance, I think.

The authors say to air and sun the stinky box as needed between de-stinking bouts. By the way, for my first attempt, what I had at hand was one of those tall rectangular plastic kitty litter packages -empty and clean of course. It worked very well and I found the bumps on the flooor useful for centering the book.

HTH
My thanks to other posters whose ideas I will also try.

Molly~

'I am amazed and know not what to say.' (Shakespeare)

Dido

Second thoughts, Cece, a day later:

Drop it into a bag of cat litter. That seems to cure most smells.

Dido

thanks to everyone! I will try one or more in a few days when school and volleyball wind down...did I mention my son's team won the state championship? (shamelessly proud of them) and we have celebrations, banquets and oh...yea-finals-to get through-then some serious housekeeping must take place around here.
PAM-The book is actually just a paperback copy of a mystery by Ruth Dudley Edwards-The English School of Murder and I've never read it and love the series, which my library has three of...

I have almost emptied the cat litter canister, so I plan to attempt the stinky box method soon-I'll update!