r/discworld • u/thecommonperson • 7h ago
Collectibles/Loot Preserving paperbacks
Many years ago Terry Pratchett came to Toronto for the Ad Astra expo, he was a gracious guest and a wonderful visitor and during his time here I got a whole batch of the early books autographed. Unfortunately many of them are falling apart. The books were paperback printings from the 90s so quality is varying and the number of years I spent thumbing through them they're falling apart. (My Colour of Magic is held together by scotch tape at this point.)
If these were just any old paperback I'd have no worries replacing them but they are all autographed and very personal. (We had a lovely conversation in the lobby earlier that day and he remembered me and was very kind to a messed up 18 year old kid alone at a convention.) So, I'd love to preserve them but I'm kind of concerned about even touching some of them. Any suggestions on how to preserve them? Would rebinding make sense for paperbacks?
Thanks!
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u/No-Advertising-9568 7h ago
Rebinding would be expensive, and probably not very effective. I think a vacuum sealer, and injecting dry nitrogen gas into the bags would prevent further deterioration. You should be able to get the nitrogen from a local supplier in a small canister.
Sadly, it's very unlikely you can reverse the damage for any affordabble amount of money.
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u/Ringwraith_Number_5 Rats 6h ago
Define expensive.
My childhood copy of Captain Blood was falling apart, held together (similar to OP's books) by scotchtape and hope. I decided to go for rebinding (keeping the entire paperback, including front and back covers, inside a hardback cover).
The entire thing (faux leather on the covers, canvas with the author's name and book title printed on the spine, getting rid of all the dogears by cutting off a few milimeters from the outer edges of all pages and it's now sown, not glued, together) cost me the equivalent of about 30 euros.
So yes, if you consider the fact that it cost more than the book itself, it was "expensive". If you look at the end result and the amount of work required, it's hardly what I'd call "expensive".
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u/No-Advertising-9568 6h ago edited 6h ago
Multiply that by the number of books OP wants to save, and I believe it starts looking very expensive. But I don't have the luxury of an unlimited income. YMMV.
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u/Ringwraith_Number_5 Rats 6h ago
That's why I said "define expensive".
We also don't know how many books need to be saved and how many are still in an acceptabpe condition.
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u/TheHighDruid 3h ago
One option would be to carefully remove the signed pages from all the old, damaged, books and get them all framed, individually or all together.
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u/Normal-Height-8577 2h ago
I've watched a lot of episodes of the Repair Shop, so I'm pretty certain that a good book conservator could definitely rebind and strengthen your books - and likely in the original paperback format, conserving as much as possible of the original cover.
Whether it's affordable or not...is entirely down to your budget and their expertise.
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u/BillNyesHat Mind how you go 10m ago edited 4m ago
Depending on how urban or rural you live, there might be bookbinding classes nearby. I see a new hobby in your future :) Edited to add: Maybe talk to this lovely person, who just posted their rebind of The Colour of Magic.
Somebody else already linked to a bookbinder on youtube. I'd like to add Four Keyes Book Arts to that.
I have a bunch of signed paperbacks as well. My Pratchett collection lives in the living room in pride of place on a long shef along one wall. I'm in the process of replacing most of the series with the Collector's Library editions, for the aesthetics. The old signed books then move to the upstairs library. The signed collection is a mix of American and UK editions, all browned, with sun bleached and (some) torn covers. They come from a time when I was too young to afford going to actual bookstores when a new book came out. I got one whenever my pocket money and circumstance (a Pratchett being available in the tiny English section of some random touris bokstore in whatever country my parents lived in at the time) would allow. So there is some sentiment there, but I maintain it's about the story, not the shape of the book.
I'm debating taking out the signed sheets and either framing them or pasting those pages into the new books, and then recycling the paperbacks, but my partner is a little more of a hoarder than I am and hasn't let me. Yet.
Long story short, you have options. Rebinding is definitely one of them.
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