The Sword and Laser discussion
Caring & preserving first edition books
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Emy
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Dec 13, 2012 08:12AM
Hmm plastic is bad in itself. Archives have special acid-free plastics they use. Most libraries I know / have worked at don't particularly try to preserve dust jackets, and bindings are usually only of interest once they are already rare... Can look into it though if you want :)
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Off the top of my head I can't remember if it's acid in the plastic, or that the plastic reacts with acid in the paper (almost all paper still has acid unless it's been specially treated). Going home now, but will look in the morning!
Museum curator here! If you use polyester it isn't as bad as using PVC. However, if you can't control the humidity of the storage area, don't use any plastic to store books, or paper in general. Here's the best things you can do for your books at home: don't shelve them too close together and don't stack books on the shelf. If your book is in really bad condition, or rare, you probably want to put the book in an acid-free, lignin-free book box (available from a couple of websites).That's what I have off the top of my head, let me know if you want/need more.
Based on my own research and asking book store owners who sell signed first editions, it's best to get a bookshelf made of acid-free wood and make sure the books are standing upright, never lying down or the spine will wear down from gravity. I guess book ends would come in handy for the shelves that aren't full yet.Also, "Most libraries I know / have worked at don't particularly try to preserve dust jackets..." The dust jackets DO matter for collectors. Not having a pristine dust jacket greatly decreases its value.
Not using plastic slipcovers is new to me though since all comic book shops I've ever been to wrap their books in them. I was actually thinking of ordering a bunch of them to wrap all my books in to keep dust off, but now I'll have to reconsider that.
In our current home, we have to use humidifiers in the Winter and dehumidifiers the rest of the year, and since our bookshelves are in our bedroom where we have the machines running, I guess that could affect their condition. We've been here for almost 2 years though and I haven't noticed a difference.
I recommending checking out VJBooks.com for more info; they get back to me within a couple days whenever I send them an email. I ordered my first book from them a couple months ago and they carefully wrapped the dust jacket in acid-free plastic or something to make sure it doesn't get damaged in shipment or storage.
@Gally - not saying they're not of interest! I was stating that I don't know about dust jackets specifically because most libraries don't seem to preserve them! Dust jackets seems to be more an archival or collector preservation side (until of course they are rare then we do). The difference being that libraries are generally (not 100%!) more interested in stock for use, whereas an archive is primarily interested in preservation.Either way, Amanda's recommendations are what to follow, as museums deal with this far more that I would do. Acid is the bane of paper though, so don't use those evil sticky bookmarks on anything you want to preserve... :D
Amanda wrote: "If your book is in really bad condition, or rare, you probably want to put the book in an acid-free, lignin-free book box (available from a couple of websites)...."
Huh, I've used those boxes for negative storage, I didn't even know they made book versions.
Comic books are are cared for the way they are because the quality of the paper and the ink are so low. The same goes for the pulp novels and magazines. Even bags and boards (which until the late 90's weren't archival quality) can only slow the degradation process. The only way to stop the process entirely is to make sure it will never be read again, with a process called encapsulation.
http://www.cgccomics.com/grading/enca...
For me, that's like encasing a Ming Vase in Lucite. Fortunately it's not the same for old books. If you follow the temperature, humidity and shelving guidelines; they can last a good long while. I think playing around with the tide and true archival methods is a sure way to accidentally damage the books.
