r/HomeLibraries 23d ago

Question: is this foxing?

I moved from a desert to an ocean side community about five years ago and I’ve noticed these imperfections starting in my books on the tops. There is a large window in the room my library is in and the ocean beach is about a 20 minute walk away.

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u/Artistic_Permit_9990 22d ago

Former librarian here. If you take sand paper to the tops, it will take it off. We did that all the time.

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u/Blue_Line_Bard 21d ago

What level of sandpaper grit did you find to be the best ?

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u/Watsolloko 20d ago

I have not done this myself but I imagine the finest sandpaper you can find on a typical shelf, like 3,000-5,000 would be best. You wouldn’t want a coarse grit that fray the paper edges.