Topic may sound weird, but what I am trying to do is protect my books. I have had two schools of thoughts and one was to read them as often as possible as the oil in your hands were good for the paper.I know sounds crazy, but.....
Other than that I was told to keep them in a humid free temperature controlled room and above all avoid moisture...
Any help on protecting classic books, please help.
Rennie

It is crazy. Oil and paper, hmmmm. Not a good combo. Try cotton gloves. you might be thinking oil and leather bindings.

You realy can't keep them humid free. If you did, they would eventually fall apart. You need an even, constant level of humidity for paper. The numbers are out there for books. Myself, I keep the books where I live mostly. The attic and basement are not good options.

I'm not sure if I'm correct on this,
but keeping them in a protective sleeve
can help, especially for soft cover books.

but I totally agree with kevin, cotton gloves.

there are places that sell special archiving
materials for collectors like comic books and
vinyl. that include gloves, bags and even if you
wanted to frame paper products.

one of my suppliers does.

Get a copy of Leo Behnke's book The Conservation of Magic. It has wonderful resources in it.

Not more than 70 degrees and around 30% humidity. No direct sunlight (55 lux for light sensitive and 165 lux for others). Something else to consider, fluorescent lights can be damaging. Ideal conditions would be a dark room with temp and humidity controlled, using an incandescent light when viewing the material and some type of air filter/purifier.

Recommended:
National Bureau of Standards (NBS). Air Quality Standards for Storage of Paper-Based Archival Records, NBSIR 83-2795. Gaithersburg, MD: NBS, 1983, unpaginated, approximately 100 pp.

Information was gathered from Click Here

Wow, talk about getting help. You guys are great, and all good ideas.
Thanks it is greatly appreciated.
Rennie

I think the main thing is keeping your books upright on shelves, not too tightly stacked, and away from heat and excessive moisture, in about the same temperature and humidity conditions that are also comfortable for you. If you want to protect the paper jackets, you can get clear Mylar covers for them. A few of my older book jackets started to deteriorate, and adding the plastic covers has really helped to slow or stop that problem, even though I don't care for the look of them (too shiny, not really part of the original book, etc.).

I hate to mention this, but a prime cause of problems can be loaning out books, so now I just don't do it, period. Often, I never got the book back, so I lost a book and a friend at the same time. And if and when I did get the book back, it usually wasn't in the same condition as when I lent it out. So now I just follow Ben Franklin's advice: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be!"

Finally, as you probably also know, the paper used in some books was very cheap, not enough rag content, and it was not treated properly during processing, either. Because it is too acidic, it will eventually self-destruct, no matter what you do. But with reasonable care, most books will still last longer than either of us! SETH

For books that used pulp paper, they can be saved too. You can have them dipped by a book conservator. This will stop the deterioration. At least in your lifetime.

I wish I could remember all the books I've loaned and never got back. Argh.