How to Clean & Care for Vintage Books
Hi there–I hope you are well! My sweet husband and I took a day away together over the weekend–junkin’ of course. We happily filled the van with treasures, drove through gorgeous country, gawked at gorgeous barns, and ate lunch at a small-town deli. [See my Instagram account for pics of a handsome barn we drove by.]
Included in the fabulous finds were a few old books, just in time for today’s post about how to clean and care for vintage books. It’s another in a series of posts on how to clean and care for antiques that includes old bottles, vintage luggage, and grungy furniture, and many more.
Supplies to Clean & Care for Vintage Books
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Supplies
- Baking soda
- Quick erasing sponge (melamine foam)
- Resealable plastic bags
- Paper towels
- Fine sandpaper
- Tacky glue
- Kneaded eraser
- Rubber bands
- Acid-free tape
How to Clean Dirty Vintage Book Covers
To simply and safely remove dirt and grime from the covers of most books, use a damp melamine foam sponge and dry immediately with paper towels. I buy mine at the dollar store, two or three for $1.00.
It’s almost miraculous how clean your covers become after a couple of swipes with the sponge. It’s high density makes it ideal for removing marks and stains that might otherwise be impossible to remove.
Even certain cloth-covered books, like this old copy of Joy of Cooking can often be cleaned with a melamine sponge. Just test a small area on the back first to be sure.
I’ve heard people complain about the short life span of a melamine sponge (Mr. Clean™ brand: Magic Eraser). I recently discovered the secret to increasing their life–don’t rub them, soap them up, or squish them. Watch and learn:
How to Remove Musty Odors from Vintage Books
Shake a little baking soda onto a few pages of the musty book, place the book in a resealable plastic bag. Shake some more baking powder into the bag–on both the front and back covers–and spread it around a bit with your hand. Let the bag sit for a week or two and then remove the book and shake out all of the baking soda.
Use a small brush to help you remove it from crevices and/or the cover, if necessary. Now give the book a sniff. If the musty odor is gone–hurray! If not, try the process one more time. You can multipy your efforts by using this process on more than one book at a time and placing them together in a larger plastic bag.
How to Remove Mildew or Mold from Vintage Books
I know this answer may be annoying, but don’t ever buy books that contain visible mildew or mold. Virtually nothing can be done to rescue a book so damaged.
How to Remove Pencil Marks from Vintage Books
To remove pencil marks safely from vintage books, use an inexpensive kneaded eraser popular with artists. After taking it out of the package, knead it until it softens and then erase the pencil marks. The “lead” will adhere to the eraser, but kneading it again causes it to disappear! Rub in one direction to prevent wrinkles in the paper.
Here’s a video to help:
How to Repair a Torn Spine
Every now and again I accidentally buy a book with a pretty severe flaw, like this vintage cook book that’s about to lose it’s spine. It’s easy enough to repair with good glue (tacky glue) and a couple of strong rubber bands. I applied the glue using a wooden craft stick, making sure to get all the edges, and then wrapped the bands around the book and let it dry for 24 hours.
How to Repair a Torn Dust Jacket
Vintage and antique book buyers prefer books with dust jackets, even when in bad shape. To prevent further damage and to improve the look of a torn jacket, I tape the rips and tears with acid-free tape. This prevents it from turning the icky yellow color you often see on dust jackets that have been repaired with ordinary tape.
How to Clean Soiled Book Edges
This trick for addressing soiled book edges may startle you, but it works(!). You can sand book edges using a piece of fine sandpaper to remove marks, as well as to even out the edges, as the before and after photos above reveal. Take it slow and easy and you should have no problems. Moving in one direction is also a good idea (though I completely ignored my own advice in this case since the stains needed more aggressive treatment).
How to Clean Leather Book Covers
I believe the best policy for leather books is to leave them alone. Holding and reading them will transfer some of the oils from your hands to the leather, which will typically be enought to keep it supple. My experience has been that trying to moisturize them with a wax product only results in unwanted discoloration.
So there you have my tried and true methods for cleaning and caring for vintage books. I’d love to hear your thoughts and any additional tips or tricks that you’d like to add for both my benefit and the benefit of other readers.
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Great post! I learned some new tricks! Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it! You’re very welcome 🙂
Diana, I recently fixed the spine of a book the same way….glue and rubber bands. If a cover is a bit glossy…even paperback covers…. I use Goo Gone to get off sticky residue from price tags. Last year I went through boxes of old paperbacks that my dad had. They were a bit dirty so I cleaned each of them with a rag and 409, just to make them feel a little cleaner for myself and others I shared with.
Great minds, Patty! Excellent tip to use Goo Gone to remove price tags. I hear you about wanting things, especially something you hold in your hands for a period of time, to be clean 🙂
Thanks Diana, I have a few books I will try these tips on. Have you ever used gel packs for taking away musty odor? It’s not as messy as baking soda. Follow the same instructions …..seal the books and a gel pack or two in a plastic bag. I’ve purchased different size packs on Amazon. I also use them on vintage handbags, suitcases, etc. it works very well for me.
As always thank you for sharing great tips and information.
I’ve never heard of gel packs Linda–thanks so much for alerting me to them. I’ll have to check ’em out on Amazon. So glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
I would treat the leather books with mink oil, just as I would with fine leather bags, jackets, and boots. The color of the item will darken, because the leather is “thirsty”. Carefully apply a small amount with a lintless cloth. With another clean cloth (or clean corner of your cloth) softly remove any excess oil.
Good tips, Liz. In the past I’ve not been pleased with the new color of my leather took on and have preferred to leave them as is unless they’re crumbly. I guess it’s just a matter of preference 🙂
While you could use mink oil, it is NOT recommended for book leather. Mink leaves leather very supple and it dries very stiff if the item is set on a shelf, not used and not re-oiled regularly, leading to cracking. Since books are stored exactly like that, it will ultimately damage the leather, not help it. Mink oil is also on the acidic side, not good for leather books.
Older leather book covers can be conditioned if they are not heavily handled. A leather conditioner created specially for book conservation should be used. Applying it with a small sponge swab in a circular motion and then buffing out with lint free pads will not discolor the leather, only enhance it. There should be no “oily” feeling on the cover, but it should feel softer. If the leather cover is so dry it’s leaving dust on your fingers, don’t apply conditioner until the cover has been consolidated (which I would recommend Cellugel for). That’s red rot and conditioning will only gloop on the surface.
Diana mentioned not using wax because of discoloration, which is most certainly will do. Wax will also cause the leather to become dry, since it sort of suffocates the pores, meaning no oils can reach the leather.
So no mink oil, no wax, no conventional leather conditioners for clothes, bags, boots, etc. Books are their own ballgame!
Hi Diana,
Thank you so much for such a useful article. Using the kneaded eraser and sanding the page edges are two things I had never thought to try but I will be trying them both soon. It is so nice when you can salvage and restore books. I hate when I have to throw them away. I am looking forward to trying your advice.
Kathy
So glad I could give you a couple of ideas to try out, Kathy 🙂 I agree with you 100% about saving books whenever we can. So glad you enjoyed the post–
Excellent tips Diana, i never really dealt much in books—keeping anything interesting I found for myself. But these are excellent tips—especially the sanding of the edges. I will have to try that on a few I have (particularly my cookbooks that are a bit sad after so many years of age!
I LOVE selling books Sandi, and I do pretty well with them, as long as I price them fairly low. I try to buy them for .50 or less, $1 at the most. Would enjoy hearing how it goes when you sand your cook books 🙂
Thanks for all the good tips–and the good resources too.
You’re so welcome, Vikki!
I had to laugh when I read your recommendation to sand book edges. I’ve actually done that for the same reason, but thought I was the only one in the world who’d do so.
Great minds, Melissa, great minds 🙂
I attended a private elementary school and remember end of the year we all sat outside and “sanded” the page edges of all the text books for the next year students.
That’s fascinating Lita! Thanks for sharing your experience with us 🙂
I loved all the info in this post. I have always had good luck with regular pencil erasers (and the pointy ended ones you use after the pencil eraser is worn out (No perfect people in this household!) I KNEW that that book was a Joy of Cooking–my standby since ’73! I have also had good luck using Awesome spray cleaner on shiny paperbackcovers or covers like the JOC, NOT porous surfaces. I aespecially like it for kids books as they get especially grungy.I have had occasional luck reducing musty odors by putting drier sheets between pages; but you are right, it is next to impossible to eliminate all odors!
I generally have good luck with regular erasers, too, Kathy, but I find the kneaded eraser removes more of the pencil marks–just my experience. Also, I have the bad luck of using dried out old erasers that badly smeared the pencil marks and even ripped the paper(!).
The beauty of the Magic Erasers (so far) is that I haven’t needed to use any cleanser at all, no matter how grimy. Just the dampened sponge.
Love your drier sheet idea 🙂 Looking forward to trying it out–
Wow- so many great pieces of advice! Love your advice for the moldy ones:) I really learned a thing or two. Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm. xo Kathleen
You didn’t specify Diana, but re: repairing torn dust covers/jackets, I always do the repairs on the blank inside of the cover, not the outsid
e… also, if you ever find a book you just have to have that may be ‘buggy’, it can be sealed in a zip lock back and placed in the freezer overnight. Then take it outside and gently shake or brush with a soft paint brush to remove any critters.
A few years ago I had a huge dictionary with the prior owner’s name written in ink or black marker on the entire bottom edge . I sanded it well enough to resell.
Learned lots. Thank You.
You’re welcome Barbra!!
I was wondering what you would use to clean a fabric cloth book cover. Like the Penguin Classic books. I have a white fabric cloth cover I want to clean but trying to think of best method so i don’t end up spreading the dirt through the fabric
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by fabric cloth cover. You often find hardcover books that have a fabric-y surface, tho’ I’m afraid I don’t have any breakthrough ideas for cleaning those as I’ve not had a lot of success. You could try pouncing with a kneaded eraser. At the very least it should pick up surface “dirt”. You could give a dab of alcohol or lighter fluid on a Q-tip a try, though they could ruin the cover so I guess it depends on the value of the uncleaned book. Good luck Susan!
Great tips! I learned some new ones! Thanks, Diana!
You’re welcome Paula–glad I could help!