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The_Antiquarian wrote:
I am crazy about the condition of my books so I had a bindery (the Chelsea Bindery of Peter Harrington Rare Books) make a customized pantheon-style slip casing that could contain all 12 books. It was costly, but I believe it was worth every penny!
I would take a pic, but my wife and son is sleeping... so I will do so tomorrow :)
My "A" Set of HoME are essentially perfect (other than the usual page block toning to the last two as they are printed on toilet paper), and I've had some of them since they were first published - No 4 or 12 volume slipcase required for protection! I just keep them in a room without and direct light and behind glass. Seriously, slipcase or no slipcase, the condition of any of my books has not changed over the years, except for very minor fading on two before I realised the dye was unstable - but a slipcase would have made exactly zero difference to that. I've moved 4 times, and have individually acid-free paper wrapped and then bubble-wrapped and boxed them. I'd have done that even if they were slipcased.
I can see that in a library environment where shelves are being continuously reorganised, they would have some genuine utility, of course.
I get that people like slipcases (and that's cool), and they make sense in some environments, but let's not kid ourselves that they are really a good protection for books that are in the hands of a collector that already knows how to look after books. They may even lead to fading on spines going unnoticed, because the sides are less visible for contrast.
Traycases are a totally different kettle of fish, IMHO - I think for anything worth real money, I'd go down that route. Fortunately I don't have any books worth real money, so I don't need to care
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