Tag: For the Love of Books

Collecting Franklin Library – The Oxford Great Books

Collecting Franklin Library – The Oxford Great Books

Collecting Franklin Library – The Oxford Great Book Series As it is widely known, Franklin Library leather-bound books are an eye catcher. While there are an assortment of smaller series and finely bound titles created by Franklin Library, the most exclusive of their larger sets 

Why Books Make FANTASTIC Mother’s Day Gifts

Why Books Make FANTASTIC Mother’s Day Gifts

Bronze Anthology Holiday Tips Why Books Make FANTASTIC Mother’s Day Gifts Tired of giving the same ol’ gift to your dear sweet mum? We can’t blame you; it’s easy to make the mistake of being a lame gift giver. We’ve all been there! But you 

Standing Tall – Caring for Book Spines

Standing Tall – Caring for Book Spines

Standing Tall – Caring for Book Spines

Books need support too. We often turn to our old favorites or new discoveries for lessons or relief in our lives, but those pages need our help. When the pages are bound together, they form a textblock and that textblock is attached to the covers at the spine. The spine is the back edge of a book that faces out from our shelves, and like our own spine, it holds the book up. Over time, those spines become more delicate and like our human spines, need the utmost care to prevent deterioration and damage.

Tips to Protect Those Precious Book Backbones

  1. Store books of the same size together. When placing books on a shelf, place books of the same or similar height together to keep consistent pressure on the spines.
  2. Books should be kept tightly together on shelves, but not too tight. When books are placed side by side, they should be snug together, but easy to remove. Not so loose that they flop or lean and not so tight that you cannot pull one out without tugging it. Try adding bookends when you have too much space. Bookends should be heavy and able to hold up books without sliding away from the weight.
  3. Do not store other books or objects on top of one another. Imagine carrying a weight on top of your shoulders all day, every day. Eventually you would begin to sag from that weight and so will your books. When books are stacked, the ones at the bottom ones will often start to lean, especially if there is a lot of weight on top of it relative to its size. Except for large coffee table books, which are meant to be viewed on a flat table, books were designed to stand up on shelves.
  4. Grip a book’s spine from the sides when removing it from the shelf. Pulling hard at the top of the spine can cause it to tear or detach from the textblock.
  5. Properly open books to avoid cracks. With new books, first open the front and rear covers and then flip through the pages. Opening books too wide will cause cracks or the separating of pages from the textblock. Once cracks begin to form, the integrity of the spine is compromised and additional care (or even repair!) is required.
  6. Always support book spines when reading by cupping the spine with your hand or resting it in your lap or on a surface. There are even book pillows specifically designed to support books for reading.
  7. Finally, not all books are created equally. For one, paperback books were not designed to last as long as hardcovers. More than likely, creases will form along the spines of paperbacks. Book club editions are made with less durable covers and paper in order to keep production costs low. As a result, both paperbacks and book clubs do not have to same durability as their hardcover counterparts. Keep this in mind when storing and handling your reading copies.

Like our human spines, you can do everything to support your books spines, but unfortunately, over time, those spines will still become weaker and need extra care. Just like an 80 year old man has to take extra care to keep his body moving, an 80 year old book needs extra care to keep its pages turning. Also like our human spines, book spines were meant to be used, because books were made to be read, so do not be afraid to enjoy those beautiful pages. Along with your support, those pages could still be standing strong many, many years from now.

How to Handle Books

How to Handle Books

How to Handle Books There are several things that many so called book “lovers” do that can be quite irritating: such as writing or highlighting, dog-earring pages, attaching ex-libris stickers, or otherwise damaging a book. But there is nothing as frustrating as seeing other book 

Book Dealer vs Book Scout

Book Dealer vs Book Scout

At its basic level, there are three parties involved in the book buying process: 1. book collector, 2. book scout, and 3. book dealer.

Safely Shipping Books

Safely Shipping Books

Safely Shipping Books

You’ve sold a unique and wonderful book online to a new customer or simply giving it as a gift. No matter the recipient, your hope is for the book to arrive in the same condition as it did prior to shipment. Unlike most new books that are mailed with little care (e.g. throwing a book in a bubble mailer, dropping it in whatever flat-rate box it fits with no padding), books of age or value should be handled in a different manner.

Packaging

  1. Particularly if you’re selling the book to someone, your first step is to inspect and ensure it is the exact item you agreed to send. While it seems like a rather obvious step, you would be surprised how easy it is to send the right book but wrong printing, especially when you have multiple copies. If the book was handled by others, verifying the condition is a necessity.
  2. Next, you’ll want to wrap the book in a soft material; for example, a tissue paper for gift wrapping or a light weight shipping paper will do the trick. This should be a white color so that there is no transfer, which is what can happen when colored or newspaper print is used. A lightweight paper prevents the covers and, if applicable, a dust jacket from rubbing against rough edges of other packing material.
  3. A small amount of bubble wrap, between two and three layers thick, will compliment the thin wrapping paper and prevent any hard jolts during transit. Typically, the bubble size used for this is around 3/16” but the larger 1/2” bubble wrap will work as well. If a “Handle with Care” label is needed, apply it to the bubble layer so that the person unpacking the shipment knows they need to be delicate or risk damaging the book.
  4. At this point, a sturdy box needs to be located with enough size on each side of the book to allow for 2” or more of thick shipping paper, packing peanuts, or large bubble wrap. Depending on the weight of the book(s), you might need upwards of a double-walled “Heavy Duty” box, which is recommended for packages over 12” in any one dimension. If the package is smaller though, a single-walled shipping box will work. A new, unused box can take the the brunt of the shipping stage, whereas a used box might tear at the seam or otherwise fail. Heavy duty shipping tape is a must for heavy duty boxes, but standard shipping tape, if layered correctly, will suffice as well.
  5. Lastly, your packing material is necessary but paper works well for its versatility and recyclability. There are a variety of weights for thicker paper, but we’ve found that 40# and 50# paper to be cheaper and easier to buy from local stores. Though messy and hard to store, packing peanuts will do the trick; inflatable air cushion bags can be expensive if you ship infrequently.

Postage

This largely depends on each situation: the destination, what you’ve promised, what your recipient requested or paid for, the value of the book, the dimensions and weight, etc.

USPS Media Mail
Most single book shipments of lower value and in no hurry to arrive, will work using USPS Media Mail. Keep in mind that your book must qualify and meet the restrictions set by USPS, which for the most part prevents any bound items with ads (magazines, periodicals, etc.) from being shipped with that service. If you determine your book qualifies for Media Mail, it can also be insured if the item has value. Should you need to send an item from coast to coast, Media Mail will take every bit of 7-9 days, while Hawaii or Alaska can take weeks.

USPS Expedited Services
If an expedited service is necessary, USPS Priority mail can handle most book shipments especially with the number of flat-rate boxes available. However, there are few circumstances where a shipping envelope would be selected as the possibility of damage rises dramatically – stick with a box!

Regional flat-rate boxes, when applicable, can save a few dollars if your book fits those inside of those boxes. There is also nothing wrong with using your own sturdy box and purchasing a Priority Mail label just keep in mind that heavier books and destinations farther from you will come with added cost. Priority Mail shipments come insured with $100 and additional insurance can be added to your shipping label.

FedEx Home Delivery and UPS Ground
Finally, both Priority mail and Media Mail can be a great value, but it pays to check FedEx Home Delivery and UPS Ground shipping rates. In situations where the package is heavy, usually starting around 20-25 lbs, in our experience it is much faster and cheaper to use FedEx and UPS. Note that FedEx and UPS do not deliver standard services on Saturdays.

Finally, don’t forget to insure accordingly, print and affix your label. Your book shipment should be ready for drop-off at your nearest service center collection. Following these aforementioned steps will give you the peace of mind that your books will arrive safely!

Book Club Edition Books

Book Club Edition Books

Dealing with Book Club Edition Books You’re browsing through a section of newly discovered books and see a book you’ve been hoping to find. You’re beyond excited but you temper your enthusiasm as you think to yourself, “Is this too good to be true?” You 

A Day in the Life of a Book Scout

A Day in the Life of a Book Scout

A Day in the Life of a Book Scout In a nutshell, a book scout can be described as a combination of treasure hunter and dumpster diver. While the former is a more glorious observation and the latter a bit of an exaggeration, the truth