You just couldn't pass up the opportunity to purchase that copy of a rare or classic book. But what happens when you discover your treasure smells too musty to open, let alone read?
There are some strategies you can try to fight the musty odors yourself, says Deborah Wender of the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts. She cautions, however, that there are no guarantees to the process. You can try first wiping the book with a clean, soft, barely damp towel. Clean off the cover, the tops of the pages and the pages themselves. If you feel any moisture present, open up the book and place it in a bright location with good air circulation.
Then, place a sheet of a specially-designed paper containing Zeolite molecular traps (see sources below) between the front board and the endpaper, every 100 pages throughout the book and between the back board and endpaper. Close the book and place it aside until the odor is reduced. You may need to replace the paper several times, inserting new sheets at different spots in the book. The Zeolites in the paper help deodorize the book. According to Wender, the paper has shown to be effective in decreasing the strength of musty odors in books.
Signing Books
Books make excellent gifts for holidays and special occasions. When you give a book as a gift, it's often nice to sign or inscribe a handwritten note to the recipient in the book. If your recipient has a library of books, it's also thoughtful to place a bookplate inside the book. But where do you sign the book and where do you place a bookplate?
If you plan to give a book that you have personally authored as a gift, sign it on the title page only if that page contains just the title of the book.
If you have not authored the book, sign it, place the date and any words you wish on the first free front endpaper. The endpaper is the first blank page you encounter when you open the book. When you sign here, your recipient won't need to spend time flipping through pages to locate the inscription. If the first free front endpaper does not contain enough space for an inscription, sign on the following page. You can also sign on the inside cover. Just make sure the book jacket doesn't cover up the inscription.
Placing Bookplates
Bookplates are printed personal book identification labels. The history of bookplates can be traced back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. Some fine examples of elaborate bookplates can be found in the books shelved in libraries across Europe.
Bookplates should be placed on the front inside cover of a book, centered in the middle of the page.
SOURCES
Fridolf Johnson
A Treasury of Bookplates from the Renaissance to the Present
(Dover Publications, 1977)
Northeast Document Conservation Center
Andover, MA
978-470-1010
MicroChamber® Interleaving Paper
Conservation Resources International LLC
800-634-6932
Michael Vyskocil - Michael Vyskocil has been a feature writer for Recipes on Suite101.com since 2006. He currently serves as the Topic Editor for Recipes.
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