I viewed the book raw in chicago....the pages are "brittling" (is that a word)...but, they were supple enough to handle carefully...the edges and spine (lower, if I remember) will potentially become a big concern, as you can't make the pages "better" without some sort of restorative procedure. I considered buying the book (harley had it priced about 2x north of the estimates 1koko and DK quoted, but I am sure there was some room to push it down...I am guessing $6K retail?)...I am not sure what fish paid, the price was very attractive, but like many, I try to avoid brittle pages
my advice would be to restore/conserve this copy (try to hydrate the paper, if possible) and clean up the cover a little...won't really affect it's value, but will likely increase longevity of the book
rick