Since its development in the United Kingdom, the stapler has been used extensively to bind books. Staples comprising almost entirely of iron, first made in the early 1900s, are used to staple the cores of books. These staples change the colour of paper to brown and this browned paper ultimately crumbles. Basic research is being performed on solutions to prevent the deterioration in the quality of paper in the area around the staples. In this study, the cause of this browning of paper in the area was investigated. SEM-EDS, optical microscopy and FT-IR were used to analyze a browned area of three paper samples. It was found that the browned area had shortened fibres. In addition, iron was detected in this area. The corrosion of this iron led to this area of the paper being partially covered by iron(III) oxide, the product of the corrosion, as determined by FT-IR spectroscopy.