Shoutout to that guy at my local comic shop who told me to stop bagging my silver age books

Guy at Graham Crackers in Chicago last month literally grabbed a book out of my hand and said 'you're trapping moisture in there, dude.' I thought I was preserving them but he showed me the difference between a book he's had in a mylar bag for 10 years vs one in a regular poly bag. Night and day. Now I only buy mylar for anything pre-1980. Has anyone else had a shop employee call them out on something they thought they were doing right?

3 comments

3 Comments

park.robin24d agoMost Upvoted

Tbh my buddy had almost the same thing happen at a shop in LA. He was so proud of his poly bag collection and the owner just laughed and showed him a book that had gotten moisture trapped inside. The pages were all wavy and gross looking, dude was crushed.

parker_park824d ago

Can I ask what kind of setup he had for the mylar bags? I had a similar thing happen to me at a show in Ohio about five years back. A dealer pointed out that I was storing my books in a hot garage and the poly bags were actually speeding up the yellowing. I didn't realize how much damage I was doing until I saw his collection. It's a tough lesson to learn but at least you found out before any real harm was done. My silver age books are finally in good shape after I switched to a cooler room and better bags.

the_riley24d ago

Honestly, I feel like people get way too wound up about this stuff. Is it really that serious? I've got books sitting in poly bags in a closet that gets pretty warm sometimes and they look fine after years. Unless you're trying to get a perfect 9.8 grade or something, a little yellowing on the edges just gives it character. Plus, half the time I feel like people exaggerate the damage just to sell you on their expensive mylar bags or special storage methods. Can you really tell the difference in a standard reading copy?