Tips on How to Ship Books 1

I think about how to ship books every time a new box arrives in my studio. Today, I opened a box a client shipped to me, and at first I was quite pleased because when I opened the first package I found another cardboard container within. However, I went to open the inner box and was horrified to discover that there was no protective wrapping around the book!

Fortunately, I had set my utility knife to the thickness of the cardboard and so I did not cut into the book at all. I believe the client expected me to open it from the other side as he had placed a piece of cardboard on top of the book. Unfortunately, the other side had a massive amount of tape and opening it would have been more complicated.

The standard recommendation for shipping any valuable book

is to have a minimum of 1 inch of padding around the book on all sides.

Only slide out the utility knife blade about one eighth of an inch to cut the tape on a box!

How to restore a scratch on a book spine:

If you happen to cut into a book when it is shipped to you it is not the end of the world. It may be possible to restore it through accurate color and texture matching. Here is an example of just such a scratch that I had to restore. Matching the color of the gilt was the hardest part. I know it looks like a totally different color in the photos but that’s just my bad photography. The key is not to color anything except the scratch.

That’s the secret to the best restorations. Don’t touch the original materials! Did this restoration change the value of the book? For more information on this topic click here: Will repairing a book destroy the value?