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How to protect an expensive book

Comdrpopnfresh

Comdrpopnfresh

Golden Member
I had a textbook that was my most expensive in 4 years. I'll likely keep it on a shelf within arms reach for years to come. But, the damn thing is paper bound! I want to protect the book as a whole- the cover isn't anything special to look @, so I don't care about it getting marred; just the pages inside.

hey- why google, when you can poll the audience?
 
They sell stick on plastic covers that work well. That'll harm it's resale value if it's a special first edition or something, but they're great for books that are meant to be used.
 
Originally posted by: magomago
scan it and print it out? Who cares what edition it was, the content on the inside matters.
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First editions can bring huge amounts of money. That's not likely in a softback, but abusing a first edition hardback's like hanging a Picasso in a smoky public bar.
 
Take it it to Kinkos. They can somehow laminate a softcover book.

Edit: nevermind. Thought you cared about the cover.
 
Not much you can do about the inside other than keeping it in a dry place and not drip anything on it when you reference it. but honestly, it a few years that textbook will be worht about 5 dollars so you could just replace it for it gets fucked up
 
The Newberry library in Chicago was helpful with advice on preserving leather bound first editions for me.
 
isbn: 0-471-22363-8
sorry for any confusion- it's a textbook
I know that lots of in+outs w/ a bookbag and on a shelf with other books is going to wear the spine at both ends. And with this being one of the lowest-quality jobs the wileys have done in printing (not that they were even good in the first place) I think I need to be proactive with the care. If it were hard-bound I wouldn't have that problem in the first place, and even if I wanted to protect it, I could do it easily by cell-wrapping the brown paper bag-wrapped book. No-go on that plan with this softy. I would like to find out what kind of glue they used in the spine though- maybe nasa could make some use of this stuff: 650 pages bound w/ less than a mm of it!

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Not much you can do about the inside other than keeping it in a dry place and not drip anything on it when you reference it. but honestly, it a few years that textbook will be worht about 5 dollars so you could just replace it for it gets fucked up
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The interesting thing is, this book will hold it's value, for the content still being highly relevant/current, for probably another 30 years or more (already been ~40). I do get your point though.
 
not use a textbook I spent a crapload of money on? lol. And a locker?
I don't have to simply finish school to pickup a livelihood like some attending college: I have to get over the first hill that is school to get a glimpse of what my livelyhood might be. The only textbooks I don't buy, aside from ones borrowed from friends, were the ones in my first year or so- the ones for classes I was taking as a requirement, not a necessity to learn it, because I did from hs.
 
I think there are places where you can send in books and have them turned from soft to hard. Try google?
 
Originally posted by: l0cke
I think there are places where you can send in books and have them turned from soft to hard. Try google?
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Actually if you break down a few Viagras into a small tub, and let the book soak for about a day, it should work.
 
My tip. Rubberband the book closed. Force on the sides when the book is tightly closed it is ok. When the book is in a bag and the pages are loose (maybe with gaps) then you get damage to the sides of the pages.
 
Do I contact the librarian if it stays that way for longer than 4 hours? Because I don't want some reoccurring procedure to maintain a book.
 
Originally posted by: Leros
My tip. Rubberband the book closed. Force on the sides when the book is tightly closed it is ok. When the book is in a bag and the pages are loose (maybe with gaps) then you get damage to the sides of the pages.
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good thought. The whole problem with a book like this is, that I've only seen the treatment of putting either layers of packing tape or a clear tape that has a weight+consistency more like acrylic to the soft cover. And, that was in elementary school- to keep the outside from being marred from little kids.

There's gotta be something out there- maybe like those acid-free acrylic freestanding picture frames where you just sandwich the photo between the two halves.... but for a book
 
you can protect the cover the old fashioned way. Take one of the large glossy calendar (preferrably with a nekked chick on the cover) and make a cover for your book. You don't tape to the cover at all and you can take it off.
 
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