The last thing you want is to spend time and money finding the perfect book to add to your collection, only to find a year later that they are damaged due to improper storage strategies. There are lots of considerations to keep track of when storing your collection, but perhaps the most basic question you should first ask yourself is whether you should store your books vertically upright or horizontally on their sides.

When answering this question, the primary thing to think about is how to best protect the spine of the book. Since the spine holds the book together, it is arguably the most important feature of the book’s structure. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most sensitive properties, and great care must be taken to avoid damaging it.

Since stacking books horizontally can put unnecessary pressure on book spines, most books should be stored upright, preferably neatly in a metal bookcase supported against books of similar size with bookends on either side. Be careful not to place too many books on a shelf, as pressure from the sides can damage the boards and spine. An envelope should easily fit between each book, but the books should not be allowed to lean against each other, as this can also cause damage.

However, not all books should be stored in an upright position. Large folio books, for example, are best stored horizontally on the page. As folio books tend to be larger and the text blocks can be quite heavy, the weight of the text block can cause it to detach from the spine if stored upright. If necessary, you can stack the books horizontally on top of each other in a rough pyramid shape, but be careful not to stack them too high, as all that weight can compromise the boards and spines of the books on the bottom of the books. stack.

Of course, you may find that instead of storing a particular book, you want to display it instead. If you are displaying a closed book, a simple easel type device would work well. However, if you want to display your book open to a particular page or illustration, then a little more thought is needed, as the angle and weight distribution can again compromise the spine. Archival companies like Gaylord Archival offer a wide variety of display mounts, and displays like the Large Urethane Book Mount Set are especially useful when displaying rare and delicate books.