Collection Management Division

George A. Smathers Libraries

Preservation Bulletin 7.4

March 24, 1989

Considerations for Retention of Books
in Original Format

The following considerations have been adapted from "The Book as Object" (RLG Preservation Manual, pp. 81-84), and were formulated to aid collection managers and curators in the review of books that might be rare, valuable or unique. Retention is an important issue particularly in relation to the Brittle Books Program. Because of the expense and time involved in preserving brittle books, only the conservation of rare, valuable or unique books can be justified.

Many books are important largely or entirely because of their format, and there are often clear reasons to maintain those titles in their original states. In other cases, the reasons may not be so clear, but the following physical elements should be weighed carefully before contemplating either withdrawal or reformatting for any reasons.

1. Evidential value:
   1. Physical evidence associated with the printing history of the book, such as registration pin marks, cancels, printing techniques, paper, and typographic errors;
   2. Evidence of the binding history of the volume such as original sewing stations, binding structure, printed wastepapers used in the spine lining, and cover materials; and
   3. Significant physical evidence added to the volume such as marginalia, marks of ownership, and relevant ephemera laid or tipped in.
   
   
2. Aesthetic value:
   1. Bindings of unusual interest/technique/artistry: historical interest of structures and materials; signed/designer bindings; and early publishers bindings;
   2. Other book decorations of interest (e.g., gilding, gauffering, decorated endpapers, fore-edge paintings);
   3. Illustrations not easily reproduceable or meaningful only in the original: color and original woodcuts/etchings/lithographs, etc.;
   4. "Artists' Books" where the book is designed as an object;
   5. Original photographs;
   6. Maps of importance; and
   7. Pencil, ink, or watercolor sketches.
   
   
3. Importance in the printing history of significant titles:
   1. First appearance;
   2. Important bibliographic variants;
   3. Important/collected fine press printings;
   4. Indications of technique important to the printing history; and
   5. Examples of early local imprints.
   
   
4. Age:
   1. Printed before 1850 in the U.S., or books printed before 1820 in all other countries;
   2. Printed during the incunabula period of any geographic or subject area; and
   3. Printed during specific later periods, such as war years, in specific countries, e.g., between 1860 and 1865 in the Confederate States of America.
   
   
5. Scarcity:
   1. Rare in OCLC/RLG/NUC/major European libraries; and
   2. Less than one hundred copies printed.
   
   
6. Association value of important/famous/locally-collected figures or topics:
   1. Notes in the margin, on endpapers, within the text;
   2. Bookplates and other marks of ownership of such figures; other evidence of significant provenance; and
   3. Inscriptions/signatures of importance.
   
   
7. Value: Assessed or sold at more than $200.
   
   
8. Physical format/features of interest:
   1. Significant examples of various forms as evidence of technological development;
   2. Unique or curious physical features (e.g., watermarks of interest, printing on vellum, wax seals, etc.
   3. Certain ephemeral materials likely to be scarce, such as lettersheets, posters, songsters, and broadsides;
   4. Manuscript materials;
   5. Miniature books (10 cm or less in height);
   6. Books of questionable authenticity where the physical format may aid in verification; and
   7. Representatives of styles/fads/mass printings that may now be rare.
   
   
9. Exhibit value:
   1. Materials important to a historical event, a significant issue, or in illustrating the subject or creator; and
   2. Banned books.