By

Mark Jensen

This is Part Five of our Six Part Series on Magic Book Collecting. Once again, when I refer to book, I mean books, lecture notes and periodicals unless I state otherwise.

Care and Handling

First off, all books should be treated with respect. This means you don’t use one to prop up a table leg or as a coaster for your drink. That said, there are some differences in how much care you can take with your working copies of books versus investment copies.

Books that you consider to be part of your working library are generally less expensive than books that are part of your investment library. These will typically be trade paperbacks, Dover editions, mass market books, etc. That’s not to say you want to start tearing them up, but you can generally handle them more freely than more rare books. For example, if your working copy of Expert at the Card Table gets worn out you can easily buy a new one for about $5.

Mark’s Top 10 List to a Happy and Healthy Library

1. Avoid eating and drinking while reading your book. If you can’t stop eating, I recommend Mark’s Book Diet: Avoid foods like Cheetos (that stain), Ice Cream (melts and drips) and Hamburgers (Ketchup stains are near impossible to get out of a book).
   
2. Don’t write notes in the book. Use a separate notebook, unless you happen to be famous. Then write away. Just image what Dai Vernon’s personal copy of Expert at the Card Table by Erdnase would be worth with his hand written notes in it.
   
3. Don’t use a high lighter to mark passages in your books. (Drugs and books don’t mix and you should keep fire away from your books…Think About It…)
   
4. Dust Jackets, which were originally meant to protect the book’s cover, are now worth their weight in gold. So either store your dust jackets separately or use jacket covers. I use the jacket covers.
   
5. Don’t dog ear page corners, use an acid free bookmark.
   
6. Keep pets and children away from your books. The value of that first edition may go down in value if your wonderful child draws a picture in it, unless your child’s name happens to be Pablo Picasso.
   
7. Wash your hands before handling your books. Dirt and grime can damage the book.
   
8. Don’t leave a book propped open, this can damage the spine.
   
9. Don’t smoke around your books.
   
10. Make sure that guests follow the same rules when using your library.

Seriously though, if you keep the above list in mind you should be able to avoid most “accidental” damage to your books.

If you happen to have any extremely rare or fragile books you should consider keeping them in archival boxes (clamshell, etc) to protect from dirt, light and damage from the bookshelf (stain leeching into books) or books next to it on the shelf (covers rubbing on each other). These types of books should be handled wearing white cotton gloves, which keep the oils in your skin from affecting the book. You should also carry the box to the table or chair where you plan on reading it. This helps to avoid the possibility of dropping the book while removing it from the box.

This may sound a bit overboard, but if you find yourself owning a book worth thousands of dollars this will help to protect your investment while allowing you to enjoy the book. If you’re lucky, this will be a book you only paid $5, but more on that next month when we wrap up this series discussing the Thrill of the Hunt. Until then…Happy Collecting.

Part 6

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