There are different types of people: those who read a book and when finishing it the book remains in the same condition it was in, those who pick it up and when finishing it has all the corners bent and pages in the process of decomposition, those who have books full of annotations, underlines, cartoons, etc.
Although I am not against annotations or underlines, despite not making them, and that a damaged book can have its appeal from all the readings it has received, as a reader I like to have my books as new, and that is why since Literary news we want to give you a few tips to make our books last longer, because time passes the same for us as for our books.
The dust, element with which you will always find
Books are those objects that are placed in one place and stay there for a long time. This results in dust particles sticking to sheets and covers. These particles can rust the book and even bring insect eggs. For this reason, I recommend regularly cleaning the upper part of the books with a feather duster to avoid a large accumulation of dust.
Light and moisture are declared enemies of books
We must choose well when it comes to where we place our books. It is not advisable in humid places, or where there is a large amount of light as well as avoiding heat sources. That is why you must be careful not to put them right in front of a window through which a lot of light enters, since this light causes the quality of the paper to be lost and even damages the covers.
Moisture is the great enemy of every reader and one of the elements that we must take care of the most because it can destroy the book completely. For this it is advisable avoid basements, places near pipes, etc. It is also always recommended that the books come into direct contact with the wall, but there is some material like wood between them.
Those post-its that color the books have glue
The many times I have seen books full of post-it (the best will always be the one that marks the deaths of the Game of Thrones saga). Well, my friends who love post-it, they are not good! For the simple fact that they are glued, therefore they have glue and that degrades the paper.
When you transport them, they are protected
The greatest danger of softcover books is when you want to transport it and put it in a bag, any backpack that does not fit its size. This makes the book move with the rattle of the bag or backpack and the book is in continuous movement and skimming the corners. That is why I advise you that, when you want to take the book out of your house, you wrap it in a bag so that it fits completely into the book or that you use some kind of bag the size of the book where it barely has room to move and crash.
Books must be single file and loosely
You have the option of placing the books both horizontally and vertically but do not try to make a diagonal or all you will get is to deform the book. Something also very important and that is not usually taken into account, is that books, like people, need their space to breathe. Don't force the books into one place! Let there be some freedom of movement between book and book, that you can take out said book without having to drag the one next to you with you.
To have a pristine book
As I have already said, there are people who do, like to have their books totally as new, without wrinkles or marks or anything at all, like they just got out of the bookstore. These tips are more than obvious but I still remind you:
Do not open the book at an angle of 180º, that is, when you put a book on a table and each page touches the table. Despite being a better form of reading, many book spines suffer from such forced.
To mark where you are going, nothing better than a bookmark, or a label, or a piece of paper that you have lying around, anything but turn the corners.
Despite being very beautiful, it is not advisable to keep leaves and petals pink between the pages of books because they decompose and degrade the paper.
Do not eat or drink near books, as well as not sneezing, coughing, etc. Let nothing but air pass through your book! And I'm not telling you anything about the beach or pool, if you can avoid getting along better than better, but try not to get sand or touch it with wet hands. And if you have long hair, be careful! A drop of water can fall when you least expect it.
Finally, if you really like to have them such that your favorite bookstore, do not underline or write. Above all, do not do it with a pen, if you do do it with a pencil that at least can be erased.
Of course, time will affect our books, whatever we do, but if we follow these tips, we will be giving it more life, it will be like putting on a rejuvenating cream.
Above all that, do not scratch them with ink. There are people who prefer stained books because they say that "they are tokens that they have been read." Silly stuff. If you want to rescue a quote from the book, just make a note in a notebook.
It seems to me a superb article. I would also add that of using good and resistant shelves and in the case of having the ones that 90% of the people have, not overloading them because they bend and stress the spine and the covers when they are at different heights.