Book preservation

[Pamela Ambrose <pambrose@wam.umd.edu>]

Poster: Pamela Ambrose <pambrose@wam.umd.edu>


On Mon, 9 Feb 1998, Julien de Montfort wrote:
> If a book is old, rare, well night-irreplacable or very 
> fragile, then I treat it with the utmost care (one I keep in 
> a plastic bag because it is nearing disintegration...).
[when I first read this I smiled thinking "Hey I'm not the
only one!  Then I read the following cut reply...]

Poster: "Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>:
  Julien, take that poor book out of that plastic bag RIGHT NOW!  
  The odds are very good that the plastic bag is not chemically 
  inert, and will be giving off gases that will further damage 
  the paper and binding.   Plastic will also retain moisture and 
  that can accelerate damage caused by acidic papers...
------------
[Uh-oh.  I had no clue.  Now I have one.  Thanks for sharing
an educated and professional perspective.  Now to go rescue
a few precious volumes...]

To answer the original query, uhm, I do all of the aforementioned
good and bad things; depending on the condition of the book I'm
reading (most are paperbacks I've gotten used).
				-lurker hiding behind book

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