How Often to Clean Leather Books
Leather books require proper care to preserve their beauty. Care must be taken not to store them too tightly together and avoid exposing them to direct sunlight and heat. You should also avoid storing them near radiators or fireplaces. A clear wax or polish should be applied to their covers regularly. This will hydrate and protect them.
Avoid storing leather books too tightly or too close together
Leather books should be properly stored to maintain their condition and appearance. To protect your leather books, avoid storing them too tightly or too closely together. You can use a buffered sleeve or place them in a folder inside a box. Then, dust them every so often with a clean, dry duster. It is also important to store your books in a cool, shady location. If you have a large collection, you should make sure they aren’t crammed together or too far apart.
Avoid storing your books on shelves or in boxes. These methods make it difficult for air to circulate around the books and cause moisture to build up. When storing books in boxes, stack them horizontally. Fill in any gaps between them with a shorter book. It is recommended that you don’t stack more than three books high in a box.
Another important tip for storing leather books is to choose a cool place to store them. Leather bindings are sensitive to temperature, and a room with high temperatures can lead to cracking and drying. Choosing a temperature between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. Avoid placing books in a room that is too hot or too cold, as this can cause the binding to become brittle and fall apart.
Avoid storing leather books near radiators
It is important to keep your leather books away from heat sources. Excessive heat can crack the spines and cause the glue to crumble. Heat also causes mould and mildew growth on the paper. For these reasons, storing your books in a room that is warm but not too hot is a good idea.
In addition to heat, leather books should be kept away from direct sunlight and damp areas. These are the most damaging elements to books. Also, don’t store them on an angle, as this can cause them to lose their shape. By avoiding these environments, you can extend the life of your leather books.
It is best to avoid placing books near radiators. A bookshelf next to a radiator can dry out the spines of the books. The repeated exposure to heat can also cause the pages to fall out.
Avoid storing leather books near direct sunlight
If you want to preserve the leather bindings on your valuable books, you must avoid placing them near direct sunlight. Light from the sun will dry out the leather bindings, and this in turn will cause them to fade. Moreover, direct sunlight will also cause the ink to fade more quickly.
To avoid this problem, you can treat leather books with a leather conditioner. There are various types available, including Cellugel. Ideally, leather books should be placed on closed-end shelves, without the use of bookends. However, if you have open-ended shelves, you should leave a little gap between the bookends.
During summer, we tend to spend most of our time outdoors, so it is important to protect your leather books from the harmful effects of UV rays. UV rays from the sun can cause irreversible damage to books. If left unprotected, this damage can cause brittle pages and cracks in the binding.
