Indian Readers discussion
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Need ideas on preserving Books
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Mod
The best way an ordinary person can do is by taking out books from shelves, airing them, turning pages etc. atleast once in three months or so, which is better said than done.
I have huge collections at my parental home as well as my current home, which is impossible to maintain single handedly, so am letting it go. My only consolation is that atleast my son would be able to read those.
Wow Umang, that is lots of love towards books, I usually store mine in a large cupboard, on shelves in a stack.
No, not that much love yet :)I don't plan to buy any dehumidifiers or special boxes for any of my books.. Just came up with this topic..Wanna know to what extent bookaholics go to keep their collection in a good state. But yes if eventually something happens, I would buy those metal shelves with glass doors.. the one you would see in school libraries or at the most put up a plastic cover on the books.
@Smitha: hmm seems like u have inherited a treasure of books.. your son would be one lucky person. Unless he is more into PS and TV!! Save the books!
This is an excellent question Umang and at an appropriate time too....I have just spent the whole of yesterday, tidying up my book collection. My suggestion to you is to store your books in a room with minimal humidity and please place your books on shelves that are open on atleast 3 sides....wrought iron shelves are the best. Allowing the books to breathe keeps them fresh and also prevents creatures from getting to them. Do remember to move your books around every two-three months and take the time to dust them.
I love my book collection and I spend more time tidying them up and arranging and rearranging them than my own cupboard !
Debamitra wrote: "This is an excellent question Umang and at an appropriate time too....I have just spent the whole of yesterday, tidying up my book collection. My suggestion to you is to store your books in a roo..."
Nice advice. But rather than keeping them in open shelves with alteast 3 sides open, don;t u think they would be more prone to weather conditions, dust?
Scientifically speaking a lot depends on the paper quality, etc of the books as well and professionals take different measure based on the same.
Umang wrote: "Debamitra wrote: "This is an excellent question Umang and at an appropriate time too....I have just spent the whole of yesterday, tidying up my book collection. My suggestion to you is to store y..."
My books seem to be keeping well this way though it means more work for me in terms of dusting, but the secret lies in moving the books about regularly.
My books are protected from the external workd by a tough coating of dust :). Couple of months back I went around the town to buy a book shelf. Only the steel racks were reasonable. For home a wooden one is more appropriate I thought.Check this out Designer Bookshelves
I have my fav books on a two glass shelves in my bed room. A few are stored in closed cupboards. Putting camphor balls in the cupboards helps absorb moisture.Generally, I don't hoard books, I pass them on.
Junior team members at my office are the ones I give my books to. If I review children/young adults books, these go to a school for the underprivileged in Bangalore. When I was in Bangalore for a few years, I used to leave a book on one of the seats at Lalbaugh garden, with a note, saying pick it up if you are a book lover and pass it on. The idea came from here:
http://savingmoney.thefuntimesguide.c...
I only keep those books that I would read again and again.
Living in Delhi, India has the additional disadvantages of dust, insects and weather extremes. IMO, open book-shelves are not useful here. I have got a wooden rack built with glass doors having magnetic locks for my books, in the most interior corner of my house. Ofcourse, the workmanship of carpenter left much to be desired in terms of the magnet part, with the result that our mini-library has swinging panes for the additional special-effect and bangs our heads with the fond hope of having a lasting impact!
Lubna wrote: "I have my fav books on a two glass shelves in my bed room. A few are stored in closed cupboards. Putting camphor balls in the cupboards helps absorb moisture.Generally, I don't hoard books, I pass..."
That is fab. British library has 'Books on fly' thing. Some books they just let fly, it is like you have to pass the book to another person and ask them to do the same... sometimes it will end up with you again.
Nice idea Lubna, thanks for sharing this site.
nice Idea Lubna, I was studyin in blore for 2 yrs.. and never made an attempt to go to Lalbagh, after all parks are for kids, couples or oldies.. But this idea gives me a reason to visit it. It;s like u get to be the Book Santa Claus!!
Alka wrote: "Living in Delhi, India has the additional disadvantages of dust, insects and weather extremes. IMO, open book-shelves are not useful here. I have got a wooden rack built with glass doors having mag..."He he, we hired a help just to clean up all the shelves, esp the books once every fortnight. We had only a couple of shelves with that magnetic lock thing and even that broke within 2 days and had to be replaced! So no lasting impact on us :)
@Umang: Lalbaugh was my fav part of Bangalore, lots of birds (Of the feathered kind), especially during the winters when they would migrate to India. The lake was cleaned periodically, even as it used to get overrun with hyacinth, I learn now that this garden is infested with pigeons.... There weren't any while I was in Bangalore.
love this thread. and smitha: you possess Readers Digests from the '50s? envy you. :)
Earlier, we used to bind all the books of say one year, together. So, for example, all Readers Digest from 1999 are bound together to form a fat book but I now think it makes them unwieldy and inconvenient to carry / read. Opinions / suggestions?
Mod
I do, but only a couple or so
Mod
Smitha, I think my books will outlive me. I have a few second-hand editions of poetry that are dated over a hundred years old. Yes, they are coming apart at the seams. But they're extremely well-travelled. They've roughed it out. They have seen the world in ways I haven't. :)
How many of you have comics like Tinkle, Chacha Chaudhary, Tin Tin.. the ones which at a point costed Rs5, Rs 10, and Rs 25 max! (Not Tin Tin thou!)
Mod
I had the entire collection of Chacha Chaudhary, as I grew up, kids in my colony would come and take it.. many never returned, I too lost a count of it! Sigh :(
Talking about comics- Smitha, Do you mind lending/giving me those torn, overly worn out, pages that come out at the slightest provocation kind -Indrajaal Comics. I would love to have Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and Flash Gordon Comics. I can't find my old ones (sob sob).
I have a couple of editions of target magazine from the early eighty's, thanks to my brother who had the habit of preserving any book that reached his hand from a very young age. It was a complete kids magazine and came as a surprise amidst all Indrajal comics . Was a complete hit with us ....:)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_(...
I remember someone mentioning in this group that wooden shelves are bad for books-prone to temites. Stone, iron are good. Well I am struggling to keep my books safe and all my books are distributed in Shillong and Bangalore. Since I don't have a permanent place I cannot think of keeping my books safe and well. Presently I have sort of 'hidden' my books in the cupboard for living in a bachelor pad has its own disadvantages of losing books to people who never intend to read but do borrow promising to read and return! At Shillong (this will sound crazy) I have locked my books in suitcases from precisely the same reason of losing them.
Mod
sorry you asked the wrong person - an extremely miserly Scrooge-like hoarder of books
Mod
Smitha wrote: "Ajay wrote: "Talking about comics- Smitha, Do you mind lending/giving me those torn, overly worn out, pages that come out at the slightest provocation kind -Indrajaal Comics. I would love to have ..."Guess goodreads is not the place to ask for old comics! hmmm!
Reading about Target has brought back so many memories. I absoutely died for those issues...and acquiring the Target Annual issue was something akin to a religious event. We lived in a remote part of Assam and it would come to us via registered post and it give me so much of excitement and importance !
The question that has been plaguing me ever since I moved to Delhi....where do you get a decent bookshelf ? Or do I have to wait till Ikea sets up shop here ?
Mod
How do u acquire books that are worth collecting? I mean even Harper Collins and Oxford press published books are coming with crappy paper quality now-a-days.Am looking to buy new books, preferably premium editions, no matter the cost and preserve them. Examply i would like to make a lasting (a couple of lifetimes at least) collection of all Asimov books, LOTR and Hobbit, Harry Potter etc. On flipkart, am seeing prebound and library binding editions that cost around 1000INR per book, but am not sure of the paper quality. It'd be great if i can look at the them in person before i purchase. I remember seeing certain premium imported editions of thrillers by Ludlum, Crichton etc in second hand book stores - they are of awesome quality, huge in size - almost like an encyclopedia!
And once acquired am prepared to follow the steps suggested above - frequent dusting, dehumidifying etc.
Since the cost doesnt matter, I think it is better to visit bookstores and buy the books that you want to preserve..
None of the bookstores i visited have good quality editions of the above mentioned books. And prebound/hardcover are totally out of picture :(
Aditya wrote: "None of the bookstores i visited have good quality editions of the above mentioned books. And prebound/hardcover are totally out of picture :("True.. All the major bookstores shelve the mass market prints rather than premium prints.. You can try in some of the older age retailers or take a risk on flipkart on one book then decide..
I keep everything in a shelf @ home...Here in PG, I keep them in shopping bag bundles till they can be moved safely home.
Occasionally do the airing,mostly when I'm searching for a book. :)
I can recommend http://www.bookcare.in I have used their services for a wall full of my books. They've done a great job.I had taken help of local packers and movers to pack my books while I was away for a long time. They did a good job of lining the cardboard cartons with plastic, arranging the books in them, and sealing the cartons with a plastic film. My books were safe from moulds and fungus for about 2 years.
This is all very impressive. When i have finished reading a book, it looks like it went through a meat grinder.
Mod
same here
As we all are avid readers or much more than that and I am sure many of us over here believe in having a collection of their books for as long as they are alive! It just struck me why not discuss a few points on how you guys go about preserving books.
Personally, I am on a spree of buying and collecting books and it has lead me to thinking that I need to preserve them in a good condition.. be it using Mylar, plastic covers, storing it properly or whatever it is. Cost effective, easy to do.
Kindly share your opinions.