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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix83oih wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Best way to display books, while also protecting them? by slaney0

Heavens forfend, no, please don’t do that. Take a hardcover and really look at it. You have two weightbearing stiff boards, a softer and more flexible non-weightbearing piece (the spine) joining them, usually paper that is simply glued in creating a cradle in there, and then the pages are attached to the spine/paper with glue. If you put it in the way I think you’re talking about, the weight of the pages is going to be pressing down on the flexible spine/glue. The only faster way to destroy it would be – before someone asks – to store it with its spine facing upward and the pages pointing down with the glue taking all their weight.

More simply: books are designed to be stored vertically with their spine facing out. That’s how they’re supposed to stand. They’re only made for that.

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[deleted] t1_ix8m83d wrote

[deleted]

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix92see wrote

If you’re storing it vertically slightly open, yes. But if you’re storing it vertically packed in with other books, with maybe a nice bookend to tuck it up tight, the boards are actually holding up the pages. Hold your phone between your hands, slight pressure on either side… you can see that takes the full weight with no extra “pull” exerted elsewhere.

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[deleted] t1_ix953qb wrote

[deleted]

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ix9mn27 wrote

You do you! There is a reason that millions of librarians over hundreds of years have gone for vertical, but if you keep them clamped tight enough and somehow support them all every single time you want to take a book out, yes, I suppose you can store them spine up. Good luck with that!

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[deleted] t1_ix9tmjf wrote

[deleted]

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CraftyRole4567 t1_ixa59lp wrote

You should ask the library of Congress. They have a helpline where you can submit questions, and I bet they can get you an expert archivist in the history of books who can give you a much better answer than I ever could!

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