Dust Jackets

I take them off. Otherwise, they get in my way, half-fall off, and inevitably get messed up. Easier hold one item while reading (the book) rather than two (book, jacket) or three (book, jacket, bookmark)

I take them off, because otherwise they fall off, crease, slide, lay at an angle, and are just an overall nuisence.

I take them off as well. For pretty much the same reasons

Off.

On. To be honest, I never really considered doing it any other way, except in cases (like with my dictionary) where the jacket has gotten beaten up over the years.

As a rare and antique book collector, I know the value of an unsullied dust jacket. Therefore, when I start to read a book with a dust jacket, the jacket goes into the desk drawer to be replaced with I've finished the book.

unless it's glued on, it's off.

head-wrecking they are.

Darkshore said:

This is how I feel. I don't want to mess up the jacket and it just feels slick to my hands....I tend to read for long periods of time and this gets to be a problem hehe.

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Precisely. About...oh...seven years ago, I bought a box of books at auction that had a first American edition, first printing of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca in the bottom--with a nearly fine dust jacket wrapped around the beautifully clean and unaged book. That $1 dollar purchase paid off in spades, however, and due to the dust jacket.

A very fine first edition of Rebecca without the dust jacket was worth about 350 bucks.

I sold the very fine first edition of Rebecca with the dust jacket for well over ten times that amount to an overseas buyer--around $5000 dollars not including insurance and shipping.

And THAT, my dears, is why you want to protect your books AND their dust jackets.

mscelina said:

Precisely. About...oh...seven years ago, I bought a box of books at auction that had a first American edition, first printing of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca in the bottom--with a nearly fine dust jacket wrapped around the beautifully clean and unaged book. That $1 dollar purchase paid off in spades, however, and due to the dust jacket.

A very fine first edition of Rebecca without the dust jacket was worth about 350 bucks.

I sold the very fine first edition of Rebecca with the dust jacket for well over ten times that amount to an overseas buyer--around $5000 dollars not including insurance and shipping.

And THAT, my dears, is why you want to protect your books AND their dust jackets.

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WOW.

for me it's the sticky icky-ness of it all.

but that ($5000) works too...

I'm greedy. Can't help it. And it's almost that 'bah, humbug!' time of the year.

I keep the DJ's on while reading. If it's a "nice" book and it currently or I think will someday have some value, I'll put the DJ in a "Brodart" or equivalent DJ protective cover, then I'll still read it with the DJ on.

This is an example of a "nice" book:

mscelina said:

Precisely. About...oh...seven years ago, I bought a box of books at auction that had a first American edition, first printing of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca in the bottom--with a nearly fine dust jacket wrapped around the beautifully clean and unaged book. That $1 dollar purchase paid off in spades, however, and due to the dust jacket.

A very fine first edition of Rebecca without the dust jacket was worth about 350 bucks.

I sold the very fine first edition of Rebecca with the dust jacket for well over ten times that amount to an overseas buyer--around $5000 dollars not including insurance and shipping.

And THAT, my dears, is why you want to protect your books AND their dust jackets.

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I have a first printing of "Atlas Shrugged" but it has no DJ. :-( I paid 50 cents for it, and it's only worth about $50 to $200 depending on when I look at closed ebay auctions.

For a better rough estimate of how much your rare/antique books are worth, look them up on Alibris and Abebooks. That way you'll have a more accurate idea that also takes the condition of the book into account.

As part-time curator for a small private library, I cover most of the owner's new and used hardback books with archival plastic covers the day they come into the library. Only those with their own book-boxes are exempt, and they get their own level of care. Even hardback books without a dustjacket have a special heavy plastic clear-cover to protect them. Thus, my client's books and dustjackets are protected, easy to read, the jackets don't fall off, and the resale value is preserved.

Oh, yes, and some of his books are worth in the 2K to 6K range. He lets me borrow them for research. I have ample incentive to make sure they are happy books.

I prefer it off, but sometimes I have to have it on - depending on the condition. Sounds like my love life.

You'll have to have a business license to order from them, but go here and look at library dustjacket covers.

www.gaylord.com (One of the biggest archival storage suppliers in the U.S.)

I'm a jacket on kind of girl. I'm all for keeping books, especially rare ones, in nice condition. There is a flip side to this though. I think that there is someting rather charming about a battered volume, regardless of age, whose continued existence is thanks only to the adhesive power of sticky tape. Someone thought highly enough of the book to want to preserve it in their own way. Page corners may bear the scars of have been folded over in various places, perhaps to mark a favourite passage or a place that a previous owner did not venture beyond.
I have lots of crisp, clean books with dust jackets present and intact. But then again, I also find something comforting and heartwarming about a much read and repaired edition that has passed through many hands before reaching mine. There are many of these on my bookshelves, and I find that they are the ones I return to the most.

Grace.

Darkshore said:

What is that stuff they put over DJ's on library copies? I wouldn't mind keeping the DJ on if I could laminate them? or whatever it is they do exactly.

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The mylar covers as collectors and collectible booksellers use them are just folded over the DJ and are easily removable. Public libraries go a step or two further, gluing or taping the DJ cover to the book.

Filigree said:

You'll have to have a business license to order from them, but go here and look at library dustjacket covers.

www.gaylord.com (One of the biggest archival storage suppliers in the U.S.)

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There's also Brodart:
http://www.books.brodart.com/Content3.aspx?P=23
I don't know offhand if they sell to the general public either, but searching for Brodart on ebay finds lots of book jacket covers.