Best way to display books, while also protecting them?

Submitted by slaney0 t3_yze6l9 in books

I've recently rediscovered my love of reading, and am slowly building a collection of Brandon Sanderson leatherbound books.

The first two were wedding gifts from my wife, and now that I've finished them, I want to put them in a display case rather than on a shelf amongst my other paperbacks.

I live in a small home with three dogs, and dust is an ongoing nightmare, so I want these books protected from that, light bleaching etc. Does anyone have a current setup they can share or recommend that fits the bill, or for inspiration? Thanks Reddit.

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Potatoskins937492 t1_iwzg3v8 wrote

It might not be what you mean, but I have all of my books inside Ikea Besta cabinets. Keeps dust off everything and my cat out of the other things I have on display. It's not exciting furniture, but it's what's inside that I want to be the feature anyway. It's relatively inexpensive, comes in two depths, can be hung rather than sitting on the floor, all kinds of door finishes, and puck lighting can really show off what's inside. I don't work for Ikea lol but I maybe I should.

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Jack-Campin t1_iwzyu7z wrote

I don't know what those cabinets are made of, but in the long term (decades) the material matters. Some timber composites can outgas chlorine, sulfur dioxide or terpenes that may bleach or stain books. Library shelves are steel these days for a reason.

In the shorter term light is the enemy. Windowless rooms (like an internal hallway) are best.

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newbie04 t1_ix1bdt4 wrote

Are solid wood shelves okay?

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Jack-Campin t1_ix1kh5e wrote

Generally yes, if they're ventilated. Pine can keep outgassing chemicals for a century - worst case is keeping photographic prints in a pine drawer.

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newbie04 t1_ix1m0pa wrote

So a closed wooden bookcase would be bad? How many years for damage to occur?

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Jack-Campin t1_ix1q1kl wrote

You can't know. I'd guess IKEA products are randomly sourced pine and not seasoned for long.

It's not a huge risk, and adequate ventilation and periodic reshuffling of the shelves should keep it at bay for a lifetime.

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newbie04 t1_ix1tg58 wrote

Wait, ikea products would be good or bad in that case? What does adequate ventilation mean for a bookcase with doors?

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Jack-Campin t1_ix2vg6x wrote

So long as you move the books around occasionally this isn't likely to be a problem.

No way will IKEA ever tell you what their timber is. There are no tables saying what gets outgassed from different types of timber or composite anyway.

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newbie04 t1_ix33ncu wrote

Regarding IKEA, I meant is it good or bad for books if the pine was not seasoned long?

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Jack-Campin t1_ix3cab9 wrote

You can't know. It seems like some kinds of pine still cause an issue after 100 years, but if you move the books around every few months you won't get a problem.

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newbie04 t1_ix3db1z wrote

What's better, solid wood or engineered wood?

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citybornvillager t1_iwzpmy8 wrote

Glass cabinet. Or those old style bookshelves with glass doors.

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loomingboom t1_iwzs65h wrote

Store the books horizontal so the page block doesn’t sag.

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CraftyRole4567 t1_iwzx27s wrote

No, please don’t do that. It can do real damage to the binding. Books are sort of practical machines for holding printed pages, and they are meant to be stored upright with the bottoms of the boards taking the pressure. If you store them on their sides the pressure gets transferred to the hinge, which is the most vulnerable part of the binding.

Not helping this is the fact that it encourages people to pull a book out from the bottom of the pile by using the edge of the binding, which never ends well.

If you do want to stack paperbacks, which I have done guiltily for space reasons, rotate them regularly so that the same books do not stay on the bottom, and when you do that carefully take the whole stack off the bookshelf, turn them vertical, and then re-shuffle, rather than trying to pull one book out from the bottom.

source: occasional librarian, daughter of a real librarian

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newbie04 t1_ix1bhb7 wrote

How often do you need to rotate them?

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix1iexn wrote

I’m not sure if there is an official time, most of the advice is not to do it at all. I rotate them once a month and so far (4 years) the books seem fine, but they are trade paperbacks and the bindings are flexible to start with.

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HanSeoHeeShotFirst t1_ix2n37t wrote

Is it okay to stack hardcovers / store them on their sides?

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix3paxp wrote

The advice is that it will damage the bindings. How quickly it will damage the bindings will depend on the book, on how the binding is made, and on how much weight is on top of it. Books are designed to be stored vertically.

And in my experience, considering the size of most hardcovers, if you’re stacking them horizontally you’d have to have a pretty tall stack to actually save space over having them be vertical.

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HanSeoHeeShotFirst t1_ixfp2uq wrote

Thank you! I inherited some coffee table art books that are too tall for any of my shelves. Thank you for letting me know I should get them in a better situation asap

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ixhq5a3 wrote

I’m about to shoot myself in the foot… Coffee table art books are sometimes designed to be laid out horizontally. (This also applies to large art folios if anyone has those.) They have sturdier bindings and covers with the assumption that they may be lying flat for long periods of time. The key here is not to stack too many of them because of their weight— the bottom one might deform. But two or three out where you can see them – they are meant to be displayed/stacked that way! :)

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[deleted] t1_ix75fto wrote

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix83oih wrote

Heavens forfend, no, please don’t do that. Take a hardcover and really look at it. You have two weightbearing stiff boards, a softer and more flexible non-weightbearing piece (the spine) joining them, usually paper that is simply glued in creating a cradle in there, and then the pages are attached to the spine/paper with glue. If you put it in the way I think you’re talking about, the weight of the pages is going to be pressing down on the flexible spine/glue. The only faster way to destroy it would be – before someone asks – to store it with its spine facing upward and the pages pointing down with the glue taking all their weight.

More simply: books are designed to be stored vertically with their spine facing out. That’s how they’re supposed to stand. They’re only made for that.

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[deleted] t1_ix8m83d wrote

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix92see wrote

If you’re storing it vertically slightly open, yes. But if you’re storing it vertically packed in with other books, with maybe a nice bookend to tuck it up tight, the boards are actually holding up the pages. Hold your phone between your hands, slight pressure on either side… you can see that takes the full weight with no extra “pull” exerted elsewhere.

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[deleted] t1_ix953qb wrote

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix9mn27 wrote

You do you! There is a reason that millions of librarians over hundreds of years have gone for vertical, but if you keep them clamped tight enough and somehow support them all every single time you want to take a book out, yes, I suppose you can store them spine up. Good luck with that!

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[deleted] t1_ix9tmjf wrote

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ixa59lp wrote

You should ask the library of Congress. They have a helpline where you can submit questions, and I bet they can get you an expert archivist in the history of books who can give you a much better answer than I ever could!

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