How to preserve the book

La Librairie Antique

A book is like wine—it thrives in cool, dark, and still conditions. Ideally, it should be stored on a shelf or in a box, never in direct contact with the floor. Storage temperatures above 25°C begin to damage it, making the paper fragile and brittle. Light causes it to lose its true colour, and proximity to heat sources can make the paper brittle. Excessive humidity, however, is equally harmful: it causes foxing, warps cardboard bindings, and can even lead to mould growth on the pages.

Beware also of rodents, which are fond of leather and paper. It is worth remembering that in the past, fine books were often kept in grated library cabinets. Some even resorted to employing hunters, cats to deter nibblers, and bats to control insects.

Adhering to these basic conservation rules will help protect your precious collection. And consider this: with all the gold in the world, one cannot buy time. Is the only way to acquire a portion of it not through the purchase of a fine book—a worthy and brilliant witness to its era, which, like an excellent Armagnac, has benefited from the passage of time?

The bookseller

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