Books in shrink wrap

Hello All,

I have been buying more books than I can read at one time (who doesn't?) and usually leave on the shrink wrap covering for the books' protection, until I want to read a specific book, but I have been told by some others that this is not a good idea. I would like the opinion of other collectors, please? Specifically I am dealing with shrink wrapped books from The Folio Society and Easton Press.

Why don’t you go to the fons et origo and ask the publishers? Nothing wrong with asking here, of course, but I would hope there is an official answer to your question.

Depends on storage/ climate/ etc. Shrinkwrap plastic is generally *not* great for archival storage. You don't go into Special Collections sections of a library or archive and see everything shrink-wrapped. (PS, I'm a museum curator)

But, collectors may put a premium on shrink-wrapped Folio/Easton volumes -- I don't know, it's kind of its own thing. So, arguably, by keeping them in the original shrink-wrap, you may be "preserving" value for resale, however, that's a little silly as cheap as shrink-wrapping tools are.

>3 benjclark: My library is on the cool side and has an air purifyer running all the time, some light during the day, but no direct sun. Stored on finished (sealed) wood shelves but lined with archival board. My main purpose for leaving on the shrink wrap until I read a volumne is to keep them as dust free as possible. Any advice is appreciated form all.

My understanding is that off-gassing from plastic degrades natural fibers such paper and cloth contained inside it. That's a primary reason government records are typically stored in paper boxes (despite the possibility of water damage in old buildings).

Valuable paper items stored in plastic bins should be aired out at least once a year, according to what I've read of the risks. So, I wouldn't keep the shrink wrap on for longer than a year even within the best conditions.

Any library needs a good dusting from time to time. Ditch the shrink-wrap. Let the books breathe. It will do them good.

>5 aspirit: I wouldn't keep the shrink wrap on for longer than a year even within the best conditions.

I wonder if anyone has noticed or suspected shrink-wrap damage in books received direct from the FS, which I would guess have been shrink-wrapped from shortly after they were printed and bound: some take five years or more to sell.

For myself, I wouldn't expect much harm to come at all quickly from shrink-wrap, but it's exceptional for me not to unwrap books shortly after receipt. All else aside, there's otherwise the potential frustration of finding too late that a now out-of-print book has serious production flaws, and serious production flaws of various kinds are by no means unknown with the FS.

>7 terebinth: Your last point is something I hadn't thought of--Thank you. And, Thank you to all of you who contributed your thoughts to this thread; I am appreciative.
Frank

>6 Glacierman: If storing books for long periods of time while out of the country, should I put them in big plastic tubs with the lid on? Or should I keep the lid off so they can get more air?

>9 RickFlair: I have a lot of books in storage for lack of room in the house. All are in black plastic trash bags (to prevent any chance of water damage) and the bags are enclosed within cardboard boxes of sufficient strength to take the weight. Of course, one uses smallish boxes to avoid hernias when moving them! Some of these have been so stored for over 10 years. I have little/no choice in doing this, but don't really like it. However, they should be OK when we return them to the house.

>10 Glacierman: An archival trick I've read about is to wrap the plastic loosely around each book and leave an opening if using plastic covering. That trick supposedly can reduce damage (the molding, discoloration, warping, and weakening) that are potential risks by sealing a book in plastic. Is that what you did?

>1 Frank_Zwolinski: I'm curious what a company like The Folio Society and Easton Press say about keeping the original wrap on. Presumably, the books don't have significant amounts of mold spores on them. Maintaining a constant temperature and low humidity put books less at risk where in or out of the wrap. And maybe the plastic used doesn't offgas as much as typical plastic bags do?

>1 Frank_Zwolinski:
I have hundreds of EP volumes, many of which are still in the shrink wrap from several years ago when I purchased them.... for similar reasons as you mentioned. I've found so far, that as long as I controlled the humidity and temperature there has been no issues with the volumes. HOWEVER, I have bought shrinkwrapped/sealed books from other people and have had a couple issues pop up. The biggest issue being that the shrinkwrap starts to adhere/fuse to the leather. I'm not sure if this is due to pressure and time or degradation of the plastic or some combination thereof. Either way, the plastic comes off, but leaves an odd texture/hue to the top of the finished leather. The other issue I have encountered, was touched upon by someone else. Mildew/mold had gotten into the cover and since there is little/no airflow within the shrinkwrap (and assumptively the book was not stored in a climate controlled environment) the mold mad the books effectively unusable. Finally, I've bought a book still in shrink that was owned by a smoker, and the shrink definitely helped to keep that lovely scent within the pages of the book, long after being out of the possession of said smoker.

>11 aspirit:
Easton Press recommends on their website to remove the book from the shrinkwrap upon receipt

>11 aspirit: No. What we did was line the box with the trash bag, put in the books, close the bag over them then close and seal the box. This was done to keep water out. Our climate is essentially dry, so humidity was/is not much of a concern.