babe ruths own book of baseball

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Posted By: vetekbob

I recently acquired babe ruth's own book of baseball limited edition signed from MG and waiting to receive it but I had a question that hopefully well seasoned collectors of such type items can help me out with here. As stated in the auction, the books binding is loose and a few of the first pages are loose but still complete. My question is two fold. What is the best way to go about preserving the book so that no further damage occurs? Secondly, Should I get it repaired and if so , what is the best way to go about doing such? This is my first item of this magnitude and as I said, I am not versed in book rebounding and such. I have done "some" searching on the net and really havent found a great deal on the issue of whether to rebound such items like this or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Robert

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Posted By: mcavoy

I buy alot of old books.

You want to conserve and preserve fragile items like this book, or any paper items such as baseball cards. Obtain some acid-free paper/cardboard materials and construct a book box. Preferably, go to see an archivist, or someone who conserves paper, and find what they recommend as well as the estimated cost. http://www.library.uiuc.edu/preserve/procedures.html

Generally, rebinding a book of this era lowers its value, in my limited experience. However, if the rebinding is of high quality, some might find the change acceptable. But if you must know, some of the books I buy have some scholarly value to them, and I have seen hideous condition original volumes (reading copies) sell for more than finely bound volumes (rebound, usually with the bookplate of some important and well-known person) of the same titles. If the book is important and/or scarce, rebinding the book might be wise, just to preserve it. Rebinding a book tends to associate it with library copies, in my experience, thus severely limiting its desirability and thus its saleability (there are exceptions).

The book does not strike me as scarce (reprints are plenty and cheap, and the original deluxe edition with the sig. is "only" 1000 copies), but the edition and the autograph are important, so preservation is key. I found one copy for sale online, and the sales writeup suggests that not all 1000 copies were bound. If true, you could go to a great book binder and have a fine binding done; again, I'd go all out, and I'd want reassurance the signature or the book would not be materially affected, because in my very limited experience, rebinding will usually involve some paper loss. You should contact baseball book dealers since they know the market - they could tell you what rebiding the book will do to its marketability and its value. Me, I'd construct or have made a book box, and I would not read or show the book, ever. You can buy a reading copy of this title for very little money ($10).

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Posted By: vetekbob

I appreciate the information very much and I will head in the direction you suggested. Thank you for helping me out on this.
Robert

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Posted By: Max Weder

Robert

In case you haven't seen them, here are the dust jackets for the A.L Burt and the Putnam editions. The Burt is the reprint edition (Burt was later bought by Grosset & Dunlap) and the Putnam copies are much harder to find.

Max