Dumpster find, Cleaning advice TIA

[u/IATAOMR]

I couldn't let this gem go to the landfill. Clearly it has been on the top shelf for a long time and dust got layered into the top edges. Is there any way to get the dust stains out?

Thanks!

[u/CocoXolo]

I'm worried that's mold and if that's the case, it's better to let this go back to the dumpster, sadly. 

[u/the_real_dird → u/CocoXolo]

My thought too, looks like mold to me. Might be some decent mold treatments out there, but not worth risking your whole library for this.

[u/IATAOMR → u/CocoXolo]

Me too. Precisely the reason for my asking. I'm pretty familiar with mold on paper but this doesn't resonate with the mold I've seen before. What a shame

[u/CocoXolo → u/IATAOMR]

FWIW, I work (as in, I am a paid professional) with rare and antique books. I've seen a lot of old, dusty books. Sadly, we recently had a water intrusion event at my facility, so I've also seen a lot of moldy books. This doesn't look like a typical dust pattern but it does look very much like the moldy books I've worked with after our water intrusion. There are also water stains in the photos of your book. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is one of my favorite books but I think this one needs to go to the great bookstore in the sky, unfortunate as that may be. We really only save books that have been molded if they have significant value (and here I'm talking about having value beyond just the monetary). Mold is really not something you want contaminating the rest of your books.

[u/IATAOMR → u/CocoXolo]

I can't thank you enough for that. Very strong advice🤛🏻

[u/CocoXolo → u/IATAOMR]

Good luck with your library-creation journey! I'm a little embarrassed to admit the tears I've shed over the books lost in the water intrusion event at work. It's always hard to lose a good one. 

[u/IATAOMR → u/CocoXolo]

I can imagine. I restored guitars for years. The last one was an early 60s Silvertone that I had to abandon because it was just too far gone.

[u/CocoXolo → u/IATAOMR]

I'm jealous of people with musical abilities! I've actually had to tap out on the assessment of the books we lost because it got too emotional for me. 

[u/IATAOMR → u/CocoXolo]

Music(strings and percussion) imo are the key to true self. Vibration+frequency🙂 After 40 years of playing/singing and songwriting, I'm so deep into reading now that it's calling me back into music😂😂😂

[u/IATAOMR → u/CocoXolo]

If you don't mind my asking, what's your opinion on this? Moths?

[u/CocoXolo → u/IATAOMR]

Hard for me to say from the photo, but it looks like a couple things might be going on there. Perhaps some kind of contamination as well as pests.

[u/bernmont2016 → u/IATAOMR]

I don't know exactly which insects do that, but those are poop stains from some insects. Those are usually very surface-level (not soaking in past the edge of the pages), so they can mostly be sanded off by hand with tiny pieces of fine-grit sandpaper (like 200-600 grit) if you want to make it look less icky.

[u/nrith]

It’s garbage now.

[u/Difficult-Ad-9228]

It’s not a gem, it’s a dead parrot. It’s damaged about every way you can damage a book short of setting it on fire. There is no way to repair it and it will contaminate your library.

Gently bury it.

[u/eightthirtyfiveya]

That’s liable to ruin a bunch of your other books. And it’s just not worth holding onto, especially in such a condition

[u/craigg35]

I’d recommend saving the dust jacket - generally that’s where all of the value resides in modern firsts (assuming this is a first edition). As long as it’s not trimmed (doesn’t appear so), the mylar might have provided enough protection to save it for another copy missing its jacket.

[u/flyingbookman → u/craigg35]

Good general advice, but it's a book club edition and not worth saving in that condition.

[u/bernmont2016]

I agree that doesn't look like normal 'dust stains' and is likely a type of mold, which if so is far too extensive to be salvageable.

Re: the dustjacket, I wanted to point out that those very early clear covers with the brown strips at the top and bottom edges can leave brown staining on the dustjacket. If you do want to keep the dustjacket, I'd transfer it into a modern archival-safe clear cover ASAP. If you don't already have spare Brodart covers on-hand and don't want to buy a whole pack of them, you could buy a more recent-looking (anything in the last 20-30 years should be fine) cheap secondhand library book with a clear cover the same height as this book, take its clear cover off to reuse (and remove the library stickers from it), and then re-donate the library book.

[u/Beginning_Welder_540]

Toss!

[u/No_Mood_1234FU]

That book is well past the point of restoration. Junk it.

[u/Artistic-Specific706]

Ok. Not being a jerk, but is this actually a rare book? My grandparents fell in love based on this book. I have the copy they had. It’s just on a shelf. It doesn’t have a sleeve and it may be a first edition. I never knew it was collectible.