Remove smoke stains with rubbing alcohol?

Hi, I have an old dirty encyclopedia collection (Universalis
Encyclopedia, about 40 years old) covered with a layer of nicotine. I
tried to remove the stains with rubbing alcohol on one of the books and
it seem to work fine (though it seems to discolor the silver logos on
it). Before I try it on the other books I would like to know if it can
be domagable to the books covers and if I should try another trick.

Thanks in advance

On 6 Jun 2005 20:38:38 -0700, wrote:

Hi, I have an old dirty encyclopedia collection (Universalis
Encyclopedia, about 40 years old) covered with a layer of nicotine. I
tried to remove the stains with rubbing alcohol on one of the books and
it seem to work fine (though it seems to discolor the silver logos on
it). Before I try it on the other books I would like to know if it can
be domagable to the books covers and if I should try another trick.

I think you already have your answer; you discolored the stamping when
you tried it. I don't know how the set is bound, but I can tell you
that alcohol will damage leather.

Are the books bound in leather, cloth, or what? The cleaning agent
you should use depends on it.

I think it's in paperboard (or cardboard, sorry I don't know what's the
correct word for it). It looks a bit like white leather but I think
it's an imitation.