"Oren Douek" <doueko RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a3e00c56.0410171228.1317aed2@posting.google.com...
> Dear all,
>
> I am collecting the Fantasy Masterworks series published in the UK by
> Victor GOllancz. A few days ago while cleaning the shelf I noticed
> that some of the paperbacks had started getting a yellow hue. Usually
> 2 sides of a paperback (the ones that are exposed to air) are yellower
> than the third one (the side facing down that lies on the shelf).
>
> I was wondering how can I stop this yellowing. I would like to keep
> the books visible on the shelf and not store them out of sight. I am
> considering putting each one of them inside a transparent "enevlope"
> to protect them from air and dust. I understand that I should use
> Mylar for this. I was wondering where can I get Mylar sheets that I
> can cut to the sizes I need and make these "envelope" for my
> paperbacks from.
>
> Since I'm new to the art of book preservation, I would be thankful for
> any other ideas or suggestions.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Oren Douek
All Mylar will do is protect the books from chafing and small
tears due to day handling. It won't protect them from environmental
damage. This question was answered a few weeks ago as follows -
Basically you need to protect the books from the UV rays in
all sunlight - not just bright sunlight, ideally in archival
boxes or bags
Acid free (or buffered)** are the words you're looking for.
Store them in an acid free box thus keeping them out
of direct sunlight. All sunlight is harmful btw.
The rest depends on how valuable it is. As a rough
and totally unscientific explanation, the browning
is caused by acids in the paper which is made from
wood pulp oxidising - combining with the oxygen in
the atmosphere - a sort of rusting and brittling.
For books which are going to be exposed to the
air you can purchase a de-acidification spray* which
will halt any further browning and brittling but it
won't reverse what's already occured. You would need
to spray one page at a time. This stuff is expensive
and whether it would be economic for just one book
would depend on just how valuable it was.
In any case that's unecesary here I'd imagine. If you
wrap it in archival grade* acid free paper, and store it
in an archival grade acid free box you should be o.k
Ideally books should have ventilation but provided
there's no fungal growth present that's probably
unecessary. So as long as you check there's no
obvious fungal growth or insects present before
you wrap it you shuld be o.k. Acid free paper and
card are probably best providing you've average
humidity. As are most books. Central heating can
be a problem although the first sign of that is
often when the veneers start lifting off of
the antique furniture.
* All this stuff, card boxes etc is Googleable for suppliers
depending on where you live.
** Buffered paper and card has an excess of alkali in it which
neutralises the acid in the paper. The acid is used when the
paper is originally bleached and sized.
There's more about this, and a wealth of other topics in the
NewsGroup FAQ here -
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.rcbfaq.com/" target="_blank">http://www.rcbfaq.com/</a>
michael adams<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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