Apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum.
I have quite a large collection of second-hand books and many of them are starting to deteroriate, I was wondering what the best ways of keeping them in a presentable condition are?
The most obvious part is the covers becoming ragged at the edges and the only method of stopping that that I can think of is using cellotape on the corners which I’m loath to do.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Hmmmm. If you are loath to use cellotape, you may be loath to do this too, but here is what I do to protect my favorite soft covers:
I buy clear book shelf paper. I usually get it at Walmart or KMart. I then use it to cover the book. The plastic does a great job of keeping the book safe.
Actually that might be a good idea, I have several books that have been treated that way and if done correctly it can be hard to tell.
Part of my concern is that I’m toying with the idea of setting up a small-scale specialist book-shop (mostly military history) run from home and I’m wondering if books that have been treated this way are considered less valuable or simply tacky and would they be harder to sell on if I decide to do so.
I’m considering doing it more as a hobby than a money making enterprise.
I’ve been putting mylar covers on “special” books. Gaylord sells them in different sizes for a reasonable price. 100 for $30, if I remember right. I think the mylar increases the value a bit, as long as you don’t use tape to attach it. (The Gaylords don’t need tape – they fold very nicely.)
That clear paper might be cheaper though. I’m gonna check that out, next time I’m in one of those stores.
Keep them out of sunlight, and away from humidity too.
I work in a museum which has an extensive and extremely valuable library.
Do not use any type of adhesive tape or glues on your books. Over time, the glue can deteriorate, eating into the paper, staining it, or even causing the paper to “shatter.”
If you want to put covers on them, make sure they’re of acid-free paper, or archival-quality plastic. Some plastics “off-gas” which can stain and damage paper.
The most important thing to remember is anything you do to the book should be reversable. It’s best not to attempt any repairs yourself-- if the book is valuable, invest in having a professional do the repairs.
Do not use metal paperclips as marking devices, because these often rust. If you must write in the book, use a dull pencil. Do not leave bookmarks in the books to prevent staining.
Clean your books using a soft, dry paintbrush to remove surface dust. Dirt smudges on pages and mold residue can sometimes be removed with a talc-eraser. (It’s a powder in a bag which you gently rub across the page.) Here is the kind of eraser I’m talking about.
I would strongly recommend against doing anything other than a light, gentle removal of surface dirt. Doing it improperly could damage the book. At my museum, we always urge people not to try to clean anything up before they donate it to us-- even people who think they know what they’re doing can make horrible mistakes.
The best humidity level is between 40% and 50%-- but the main thing is consistency. Rapid humidity changes can cause the paper and binding material to swell. Ideal temperature is between 60 degrees and seventy-- the cooler the better, really. (We keep our most priceless books and manuscripts in a refrigerated vault.)
Storing books on shelves standing up is fine for books which seem sturdy. Group books of the same size together to keep them from being bent out of shape. Don’t shelve them tightly together, or push them all the way against the shelf-- air needs to circulate back there.
For books which are very fragile or have severe deteriotation, it’s best to store them lying flat. If the deterioration is partiularly bad, you may want to wrap it in a clean cotton sheet to protect it.
Keep them out of the light as much as possible, of course.
Some books are going to deteriorate no matter what you do because of something we in the museum field charmingly refer to as “inherant vice”-- meaning that the materials themselves are unstable. Chemicals in the paper (acids) ink, leather, and even the thread used for sewing the binding can be self-destructive.
It’s always best if you do not handle old or valuable books with your bare hands. Wear gloves to avoid getting skin oils on the paper.
Lissa, I think, after reading your very astute, and helpful, comments, I’d suggest that the OP consider - is the library for reading, or for having? IMNSHO, books to be read will get worn out. It’s a fact of life, and if one wants to archive their valuable books, it’s usually better to get a reading copy than to go through the hassles involved with trying to care for them properly.
Please do not take this as an attack on your suggestions - I wouldn’t dare contradict you on care and handling for anything valuable and old. I’m just suggesting that there is a qualitative difference between what people expect from books based on the intended use of the collection. And it’s quite possible to have a single collection with books in both categories, after all. Just suggesting the OP take the time to consider the difference between strengthening a book for continued use, vice archival care for important/valuable books.
Thanks for all the suggestions, they’re very helpful.
As to what the books are for, its a hobby of mine to check out second-hand book shops for anything interesting, my main area of interest is the Cold War so the books aren’t that old or valuable but some of them took a long time to track down and I’d like to keep them in a presentable condition.
I get a lot of comments from people who see my bookshelf and, yes they are used with some being a lot more popular than others.
No offense taken, OtakuLoki.
Basically, in my industry, we treat everything as if it’s priceless. We’re not expert appraisers, after all. Each of us has knowledge about certain types of items-- my boss, for example, is extremely knowledgeable about furniture, and one of my co-workers is the “doll lady”-- but we often get items where we have no idea of the value, age, or historical significance until further research is done. So, in handling artifacts, we always are ultra-conservative and cautious. It’s just habit. While my advice was geared toward preserving more valuable items, even cheap books could benefit from some of those preservation steps. Can’t hurt, anyway.
Do I treat my own personal library as carefully? No. I even commit the cardinal sin of using a personalized embossing stamp on the title pages. 
Of course, I’m more careful with my antique books, but I consider them there to be enjoyed. If I want to sit down and read one of them, I do, sans gloves, and I don’t monitor the humidity, either.
I do avoid adhesive tapes-- their glue can destory the paper, or render the text unreadable.
I can tell you a cool fun test you can do to see if plastic is evil plastic or good plastic: (I interned at a conservation lab in library school)
Take some copper wire and strip the insulation off, and “unwrap” the wire a bit so you have long copper strands sticking out.
Get an oil lamp or some similar source of good hot flame. A lighter gets too hot to hold for this.
Heat your copper strand up real good.
Melt a little bit of the plastic you’re testing with it.
Put the copper strand back in the flame.
If it’s bad (chlorine), the flame will turn green!
Sorry, I just think that’s really cool. 
No tape, no tape ever. Ever. You’ll regret it.
In the long run, there won’t be all that much you can do for paperbacks on acid paper. Particularly books that were cheap when they were made.
That was the “inherent vice” I was talking about earlier.
You’ll see it more with modern books. It’s actually kind of ironic that the books which are decaying fastest in our achives are those made within the last 40 years or so.
Newspapers are an excellent example of this. Not too long ago, I was sorting through a collection of them. Those from the Civil War era looked like they’d been printed yesterday. The paper was as creamy and smooth as you could want, the print crisp and dark. Then I looked at some paper from the 1970s. They were in terrible shape, crumbling, deeply yellowed and the print was fading.
Now, I’ve heard that there is a way that professionals can leech the acid from important papers. If you have a book that is very special to you, it might be possible to save it from inherent vice-- but the process would be extremely expensive.
If you have diaries or documents you wish to save which have inherent vice, you might be able to slow the destructive process by putting sheets of acid-free paper between each page. This helps prevent “Bleed through”. (You can see examples of this in old books which are otherwise in fine condition, but have photographic plates in the front. Usually, they put a pice of tissue paper between the photo and the next page. Where they dudn’t, you can see a “ghost” image of the photo on the page which touches it.)
Lissa, IIRC the process to remove/neutralize the acid is done in controlled environment rooms/containers, and takes months… Just to give an idea of the expenses involved.
At this point, in spite of being a bibliophile, I view all my paperbacks as temporary items. If they last ten years around me, they’ve had a long life. (That or never got read…) I carry them in pants pockets, reading on the bus, train, or in the car. I drop them all over.
For paperbacks, there are times that I can see the use of laminating paper on the covers, even knowing it’s bad in the long run for the paper, because books I’m reading so rarely make it to that long run. 