Hardcover book warping - humidity issues

[*paull*]

Hello all,

 

I have some hardcover books that currently have some page warping issues. Most of us have seen this kind of thing before. The pages when viewed from the side have a wavy appearance. I bought these books used, and when they arrived, they looked fine. After spending about 3-4 weeks in my place, they developed this warping.

 

I have considered my place to be on the dry side considering how dry my skin gets, however I wonder if the humidity is changing drastically between winter and summer in this place. I need to purchase a hygrometer, but I've never seen issues with warping in my apartment before.

 

I now have the books under heavy weight to try to flatten them. My question is this... does this type of warping happen either from going from humid to dry or dry to humid, or is it usually only one of these?

 

Thanks for the help,

Paul

[Hero Restoration]

What I think might have happened here is the books were either in a humid environment or exposed to humidity during shipping and at your residence the humidity dissipated causing the paper to develop the waviness you are describing.

[*paull*]

Thanks... Does this tend to happen more going in a specific direction, humid to dry or dry to humid?

[Hero Restoration]

I don't have enough experience to say but I would think the question is not black or white. There are probably other factors to consider like how much humidity, how long, time of exposure and so on. If I had to guess I would say it is more common going from humid to dry or that it is what happens more often from common exposure.

 

It is Easter so you may not see to many responses to your question today but maybe someone with more experience will post in the next few days.

[rodan57]

I've had some old post cards (1930s-1950s) begin to curve this winter as the humidity became less and less. I pressed them beneath The Complete Mad Don Martin and that seemed to do the trick.

 

I seem a bit flippant above but I do believe that it was the drying of the winter air that caused the problem.

[FFB]

It is the low relative humidity that does it. Happens all the time on airplanes when you bring a hardcover book on board.

 

Hello all,

 

I have some hardcover books that currently have some page warping issues. Most of us have seen this kind of thing before. The pages when viewed from the side have a wavy appearance. I bought these books used, and when they arrived, they looked fine. After spending about 3-4 weeks in my place, they developed this warping.

 

I have considered my place to be on the dry side considering how dry my skin gets, however I wonder if the humidity is changing drastically between winter and summer in this place. I need to purchase a hygrometer, but I've never seen issues with warping in my apartment before.

 

I now have the books under heavy weight to try to flatten them. My question is this... does this type of warping happen either from going from humid to dry or dry to humid, or is it usually only one of these?

 

Thanks for the help,

Paul

[nocutename]

I had some trades that I put in a box in my closet to store away for awhile. When I retrieved the books they all had slightly wavy pages. I stacked them together on my book shelf and the pages seemed to straighten out in a week or so. Funny thing is I have other books up in my closet that are perfectly fine and they are not boxed.

[adamstrange]

I used to travel and work in both Phoenix and New Orleans. It was basically going from the desert to the swamp and books that I carried back and forth had problems. A drastic change in humidity level (low to high or high to low) can cause problems.

 

You can only avoid this if you wrap the books so that they gradually adapt to the humidity level of their new environment. You don't want an airtight wrapping because that will prevent the acclimatization but want it loose enough so that it will take a few weeks. You can experiment for how long to keep them wrapped -- I'm suggesting a few weeks to be on the safe side.

[*paull*]

Thanks for the feedback. I need to get a few of these books into mylar sleeves and into boxes. Currently I have a big pile of weight on each of them and it seems to helping.

[joeypost]

Living in Florida I can see the effects of humidity on a book if it is left unprotected even in the garage.

 

Left a few moderns in my garage last week accidentally, and by the time I realised they were there each book had waves and ripples on them.

 

Even after a few days in the house they still did not lay flat.

 

Not sure if dry conditions would produce the same effect.

[JazzMan]

Kinda reminds me when I went to Karachi, Pakistan a few years ago. It was so hot and humid that the hotel's A/C was not able to remove all the moisture in the air and all our passports started to curl up at the corners.

[*paull*]

As I mentioned, I had three books under between 20-40 pounds each for a couple of days, and they are looking much better, almost perfect. I'm going to get these into sleeves and boxes after another couple days of pressure so that humidity (or lack thereof) will have a lesser or slower effect on them. This was the first time I've ever seen anything like this with books I own. Time for a hygrometer.