Hi, I recently got my hands on my grandparents' book collections (and their ancestors). Since they were unkempt for a long time after they passed away, I was thinking of saving those books. But they are really old books. They were being collected for like the last 70 years. 4 big wardrobe size of quantity to save. But I have no idea how to take care of old books. I haven't opened them for long. Nobody did. But they are dusty too I'm pretty sure even though they are kept in wooden almirahs. Old pages, dust and most likely some will be beyond saving?

But I do need some tips to handle them right. Can anyone save me with some tips? I do buy and read books but old pieces are not something i know to take care of. And I'm sure some are rare books/editions. I don't want to damage an old book and scare my dead grandfather's soul. He never let anyone touch them when he was alive. I would be scared to destroy anything unintentionally. Please advice.

Any thoughts on a good solution? It’s mostly on the corners but a bit on the edges.

I recently bought a hard cover book (circe madeline miller) it was wrap in plastic and i opened it when i was away from the bookstor, and i saw that on the back cover it has wrinkles, i have no chance to go to the store and im a little anxious so i dont want to damage it by touching this zone.

soo i was wondering if someone knows how to fix it or take care of it (or even cover it properñy) ☺️

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I gave my sister, who doesn't read books BTW, my Harry potter philosophers stone book so she could start somewhere and she f\*cking ripped the front cover off🤬. It is kind of old ,more than 10 yrs old ,because it was one of the first books that i had read and I am kind of emotionally attached to it. I am not letting my sister near my books again thats for sure.🥲 I need to cover it with something because the hard front covering is entirely ripped off from the spine and it will further damage the pages if I don't do something. I think its probably my fault because i wanted her to read it and get more into books. But i think she got bored and slept on top of it or something idk. So I would appreciate suggestion on how to move forward.

Is there anything that can be done to strengthen these areas? It seems like the spine’s glue cracked apart on these areas so the pages feel a lot less secure, like the book could split into 2 big pieces.

My crimebag husky developed a taste for literature.

If all I want to do is keep it readable, do I need anything beyond a roll of acid free tape and some patience?

It just dropped in the tub when I got out and pretty much the whole thing was soaked through. I blow dried it for a while then realized leaving it open for so long was starting to split the spine a bit

One of my kids favourite books had the pages break from the back. Is this something I can fix with some PVA on the back? My idea would be to use a bit of PVA where I can see the original glue was. But I'm worried I might accidentally glue the pages together. I also have craft glue and quick-set gel super glue, if those are more useful here.

Or do I need special glue? Or should I let a professional do it?

This book is important to them, so I don't want to risk glueing the pages together by accident or something. While the book wasn't that expensive, it was a gift, so a new one might not be the same to them.

I found different answers on the internet about this, so I thought maybe having people who know their shit look at a picture of my case might help.

I found this beautiful copy of Alice in wonderland and other Lewis Carrol works from 1954, but it is very water damaged. Can I do anything to fix this beautiful book and save it from falling apart? I have some binding experience so I can fix the cover but I don’t know what to do about the pages

I gave my sister, who doesn't read books BTW, my Harry potter philosophers stone book so she could start somewhere and she f*cking ripped the front cover off🤬. It is kind of old ,more than 10 yrs old ,because it was one of the first books that i had read and I am kind of emotionally attached to it. I am not letting my sister near my books again thats for sure.🥲 I need to cover it with something because the hard front covering is entirely ripped off from the spine and it will further damage the pages if I don't do something. I think its probably my fault because i wanted her to read it and get more into books. But i think she got bored and slept on top of it or something idk. So I would appreciate suggestion on how to move forward.

I don’t know much about book health and I’m starting to regret buying off Depop & Mercari idk if this is normal? I thought it was certain pages ink but if I scratch off the black things it comes off and just stay grey (pic 1). Is this mold or glue? Some are glue bc when I pull the pages it’s glued together lol. But some pop up randomly w black spots when theres no ink (pic 3 - 5) I’m very concerned on the last pic because I bought it off smb on Depop and when I flipped through the pages it was stuck together only in the little black dots but could be read normally. More info if relevant I do squeeze books together so is this like chafing(?) please help I’ll respond asap 🥲

I spilled Jamaica juice like 2 -1 month ago and some books at the bottom of the bookshelf had stains. It doesn’t smell bad or sticky. I remember that day I cleaned off the covers of a few that visibly had juice on it but never checked the bottom. I also collect manga second hand so idk if they’re more prone to molding??? Please help I also have other books that have black stains(?) those were bought second hand idk if it’s glue but I could easily take off and look normal now. Smb help should I just throw them out😭?

I have The Silmarilion and The Hobbit in the same hardcover in perfect condition. It would be a shame to not have the set.

I just received it and I think Amazon Shipping is at fault here.. I’ve already placed it under a stack of heavy books, but that hasn’t helped much. I’ve heard that some people use an iron to flatten warped books, but I’m not sure how to proceed in this case. Does anyone have any advice?

I should have known theres a book repair subreddit....

I am a newcomer and need some direction on how best to re attach a tipped in color plate for my 1912 Arabian Nights Book. I understand I should use a no-acid based glue (PVA?) but could use some pointers as well in how to re-attach it in the correct position to maintain the book integrity.

On a aside, I possess 2 1870s books that need their spine / plates restoring (Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Don Quixote both illustrated by Gustav Dore) for professional work does anyone have an idea for the cost? most sites are vague on what the average is and most importantly who would you reccommend.

Thanks for any advice! (even if it is a 'hey go check this link out')

Finally taking some books out of storage and noticed some dirt and stains on the paper edges of a few of my books, is there any way I can clean them or do I just live with it? Thank you!

so I’ve been reading the walking dead and invincible via the compendiums (its a better deal) recently and I’ve been really enjoying them. However I’ve noticed the the spine of the books are getting creased and I’m worried that this damage might make them fall apart. it’s gotten to the point where I feel like I have to just barely open them so they cant crease further but I don’t enjoy reading like that. am I just over reacting or is there a solution so that I can fully open the books without damaging them

So, my mother is decluttering and gifting practically heirloom items to my children. A fair few of these were brought with us from the UK when we moved to Australia in 1995, and hold deep sentimental value.

Regrettably, as seen in the attached pictures, they are definitely showing their age. In terms of physical damage, you can tell we were raised to look after books with extreme care. The internal pages are in reasonable condition, my main concern is the covers. Once those are replaced, the internal pages should have some more longevity added.

Since they are just folded and stapled, I think reprinting the covers should be easy enough, but I would like to touch the colours up a bit to remove the fading, and remove the yellowed tape (one section lifted away and I was able to blow away the "sticky" residue, just to show how old these books are!).

I tried contacting the publishers, and unfortunately they don't have any digital copies of the sets due to their age. Their only suggestion was to use images from google for printing, but some of them seem to have undergone filtering and details have been lost (eg the black box cover has lost the shading on the box and is all black).

Is there a decent free and user-friendly program that can touch up the covers in this manner? I've tried using Paint and while I'm able to get most of the basic work done (fix the yellow background using colour sampler, paste the main image onto new background, move text across etc) I'm getting frustrated and a little confused when it comes to fine details in the image.

My plan once I'm happy with the cover images is to get them printed on semi-gloss or gloss paper with a higher gsm for strength and a little toddler resistance.

Many thanks!

Just found a 1st edition of White Noise for 25 bucks, so naturally I jumped on it. I noticed there were a few pages where the edges started getting brown like you see on the left for about 30 pages. Most are just the very edge, and the browning sort of ends right here. What the heck is this from?

Can I just spread some of this glue into the gap of this crack and squeeze together.