Had a library sale meltdown last weekend over a torn dust jacket debate

I was at the Friends of the Library sale in Portland and grabbed a first edition Stephen King for $3. The dust jacket had a 2 inch tear on the back flap and I stood there for 10 minutes arguing with myself whether to buy it or not. The guy next to me said he always buys torn jackets and tapes them from the inside, but my buddy says that kills the value. What do you all do with beat up dust jackets on cheap finds?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivan_fisher991mo ago

Tape from the inside is the way to go, just use some archival tape and you can barely see it. I do it all the time with cheap library sale finds and it's held up for years. Your buddy's right about the value thing if you're planning to flip it, but for a $3 book you're keeping it's fine. Just don't use scotch tape or anything shiny or it'll wreck the whole look. The tear on the back flap is pretty minor so I wouldn't stress about it.

wesleypatel1mo ago

Is it bad that I've used duct tape on a book before? Learned my lesson real quick when the glue melted through three pages. Ivan's method is way smarter, especially for that flap tear.