Advice on storing books

I have over 400 books, largely hardcover novels, with a few large trade paperbacks, and some art books.

To date, have been wrapping my books entirely (not just the dj, the entire thing) in PVC plastic book wrapper, sealed with OPP glue, and kept in large plastic storage boxes in dark and dry location.

Understand a lot of what is described above is NOT advisable...at least based on my online research. However, the oldest items I have in my collection are around 20 years old, and still seem to be in pristine condition when stored using setup above.

Every few years, I take my entire collection out just to check on it, and admire it. And every time I do so, I get paranoid when I see pages in certain books start to tan, or become wavy, or foxstains appear. Unfortunately, there is just no way for me to 'recall' if those books were already in that condition prior to being wrapped and stored...there are just too many titles. For the titles where I do recall their inital condition, they seem to stay that way...

Regardless, I end up unwrapping and rewrapping my entire collection, every few years.

This is gradually becoming an expensive, laborious, and time consuming activity, as my collection grows.

These are not expensive/valuable books, but they are precious...to me... It's a pretty expensive hobby considering I'm not based in the US, and have to ship most titles from US/UK...

My current plan is to wrap all my books in mylar, replacing PVC plastic, and seal them using a heat sealer. Understand people say books need to 'breathe', but also read that archival mylar is breathable(?). Wrapping the entire thing just keeps away the dust and contact with the book itself, and as described above, seems to have served me quite well. Maybe my books just aren't old enough, would appreciate if someone can advise what negative effects I could expect from such practice (aside from molding, which I have yet to observe).

The wrapped items will be stored in current large plastic storage boxes. These boxes are stored in a room with a window, covered by dark curtains, though some light still escapes into the room from the area where rails are installed. They are stacked on a shelf with unfinished (to my knowledge) wood. Entire shelf will be covered in anti-UV, waterproof cover. Nothing to be done for temperature/humidity. Temperature is slightly higher than recommended, and air-conditioning/dehumidifiers/silica are too expensive or too troublesome to maintain.

My main concern from plan described above is wrapping just the cover/dustjacket, versus the entire book in mylar. To ship archival mylar to my country would be very expensive, and would like feedback on this before I decide on products to procure (cheaper jackets, or entire rolls).

Feedback/advice on this welcome, thanks.

"pages in certain books start to tan, ..., or foxstains appear."

This is acid damage. I have not been able to discover anything that be done to prevent this if the book was printed on acid paper. You can make it worse by storing the books in an acid environment. I would guess that sealing the books is making the environment inside more acidic, as otherwise some of it might dissipate. It is heartbreaking to see books from the 1950s and 60s eat themselves in this way.

I think your best bet is to store them dark, cool and dry, but not wrapped at all. Wrapping is to protect them against handling damage, not against environmental damage.

If you have major humidity problems, silica wouldn't help. It just doesn't remove enough moisture in a room. I run two electric dehumidifiers in our basement during the summer, and they can require emptying every day if it's hot or humid outside. But it isn't really a big deal for me, as I need to go through fairly often anyway. (Yesterday the bigger one needed emptying twice because I was ironing, adding steam to the room's air.) They can also be set to run the water into a drain. The two negative aspects are that they are noisy and give off heat.

Thanks for the feedback. With regards to the temperature and humidity, it's not so bad, though the local average levels are slightly above ideal/recommended levels. Would prefer to have them at ideal levels, but as mentioned before, simply not feasible due to energy costs involved. Understand this is the main cause of degradation for books, but not a lot I can do about it with my means, at this time.

With regards to foxing and tanning, it 'could' be they were originally in that condition. As I mentioned, can't exactly recall, and it's feeding my paranoia. I do recall a number of used books purchased which were already in that condition. And there were some books unfortunately left out in the open, unattended while I was working overseas. Majority of my books are fine.

Main concern was whether my practice of wrapping entire book contributed to this degradation (assuming items were not already in that condition prior to wrapping), or if they could cause any other problems in the future. This was why I ended up rewrapping my collection every few years.

Trying to determine whether I should just opt for cheaper, more available Mylar jackets, or opt for very expensive (cost of item + SHIPPING!!) Mylar rolls and continue wrapping the entire thing. Aside from contact/handling concerns, I had wrapped entire books to deter dust and insects (especially dust...). Also, they just look nicer (like fresh from a bookstore...). Interested to know about any serious consequence to wrapping the entire book, so I can decide between such consequences, versus the expected degradation (dust buildup), assuming I just wrap the cover.

Dust buildup is...unavoidable. I sometimes travel for months, and am not available to attend to the books. Furthermore, they are not stored in the open, but in large plastic storage boxes. Frequently moving the boxes to/from storage can be...very laborious... The boxes do deter most of the dust, but still...

This is something that has always confused me. Comic books, which should be very acidic, are archived in mylar that encapsulate the entire comic. Yet, when it comes to books, people recommend otherwise. I have read that archival mylar (eg. Brodart/Demco) are breathable, and my 'logic' is that with mylar, I could wrap entire book, and the mylar would STILL allow air/moisture to circulate. Hope someone can advise on this.

There's stuff you can do to inhibit tanning but usually it's the acids in either the paper or dust-cover leach in - you could place acid-free paper between the surfaces. I find that wrapping the dust jackets helps quite a bit. On very expensive volumes I put the whole book in a mylite sleeve (they can still breath since it's not hermetically sealed but the mylite provides protection from dust, etc). I've been doing this for 30 years or so and find no degradation for most of my books - the exceptions are books that have been mishandled in the past that already exhibit some deterioration - difficult to get that to stop without expensive treatments. Books that are handled/touched by humans seems to attract what's on that surface - it's part of the allure/history/"patina" but can negatively impact them also. You can minimize this by wearing clean cotton gloves (like archivists do) but this to me takes a bit of the fun out of it. All of this applies to pretty much all paper - I have some valuable prints that have exhibited foxing despite my efforts - sucks a bit.

>6 johnnyapollo:

you can minimize this by wearing clean cotton gloves (like archivists do)

Not so much anymore.

https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/the-gloves-are-off/
https://www.betweenthecovers.com/articlesDetail.php?event_id=49

Thanks for all the feedback on this.

Decided to proceed with wrapping entire books in mylar, under assumption mylar would still allow the books to breathe. Not to mention fully/tightly wrapped books just look and feel nicer.

If anyone has suggestions against my plan, would still appreciate to hear from you, either through this thread (assuming it's not too old...), or a PM.

>8 huhhuh:

under assumption mylar would still allow the books to breathe

I found this reference to using Mylar®: https://tinyurl.com/MylarUse

Apparently, Mylar® does not breathe, which is good because it prevents humidity from getting at your books, but it's bad because it doesn't allow the books themselves to breathe. Hence the pinhole recommended in the text to which I linked.

Mylar is a bad idea; the humidity trapped inside with the book can precipitate onto the books, causing water damage. Why not just use Brodart-type covers?