Hi Murray,
How does it smell? If the book smells fresh (traces of ink and glue), than you have a problem. If there's no trace of the printing smell and all that's left is a smell like something died in it some 100+ years ago, you're probably allright.
With paper, the only reliable test is to have the structure of the paper itself and the ink investigated.
I have handled manuals and books dating as far back as 1857 and their common factor is always the mouldy smell. Paper should be a tad brittle if it's cheap printing paper. Old glossy paper ages much better and can look almost like new, even after 100 years.
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