eBay

scoutjoey · ‎03-08-2014

I just purchased a set of Easton Press books. Six of them are stuck together. Does anyone have suggestions how to separate them with the least amount of damage?

Thanks for your help.

lyceumdreams · ‎03-08-2014

Is there any evidence of what is making them stick together?

kbnode · ‎03-08-2014

perhaps light application of steam

scoutjoey · ‎03-09-2014

There is no indication of any sort of sticky residue. I'm guessing that they were packed tightly together and temperature and/or humidity may have had something to do with it. I noticed that one of the dozen or so that are not stuck has a small amount of the dark brown dye chipped/peeled away around the edge of the front cover, so my guess is that it had been stuck too, and that someone separated it.

emmbook · ‎03-10-2014

This worked for me in a similar situation:

Take a thin, flat shoelace and coat it with a leather dressing made for books. Pick a corner or edge where you can slip the lace between the two books, and slide it back and forth with a gentle motion. The goal is to lubricate the joined surfaces with minimal friction and get them to release on their own. Don't pull or pry, or you'll just end up with damage to the leather or gilt.

It might or might not work, depending on how badly stuck the books are, but it sounds as if you have nothing to lose in trying. If you have success, fully condition both bindings. (I've never bothered conditoning an Easton Press book, but I'm suggesting it only so you don't have an uneven application afterward.)

scoutjoey · ‎03-10-2014

Sorry I didn't see this suggestion regarding the shoelace prior to separating the books. That was a good idea. I just pried them apart with only 2 books having minor dye loss. They should be going up in the next couple weeks. We'll see how it impacts the price when they go up in a couple weeks. Thanks for the suggestions.

gtb-books · ‎03-12-2014

Did you know when you bought the books that they were in this condition? Perhaps you are owed a refund.

dovi_wiene · ‎07-25-2017

Does this also work for PU or will it ruin the material?

maxine*j · ‎07-25-2017

You're replying to a post by emmbook that is well over three years old. (Zombie threads are becoming a real problem on these boards.) You might try sending a message through the eBay messaging system.

alanadamsbidder · ‎07-25-2017

@maxine*j wrote:
(Zombie threads are becoming a real problem on these boards.)

Just so I'm not dismissing something I hadn't considered, what kind of problem is that?

I understand what zombie threads are, and I understand the original poster(s) in this thread may or may not still be paying attention or even eBay members at this point. But when the question is in context of the information provided in this thread, and even the original conversation was "public" and not "just one member to one other member", what "problem" has been created by replying in context?

Objectively, this still seems like the best place to recieve an answer to exactly the question that was posted, for anyone who wants to answer based on their own experience. (So that they can clearly see what the question is in reference to.) Building a "new thread" that simply replicates the reference or context of this existing thread, simply to ask the same question, seems like busy work.

the*bumping*squirrel · ‎07-25-2017

@dovi_wiene wrote:
Does this also work for PU or will it ruin the material?

Is teh PU means "peanutses unsalted?"

Caveatses: I is not teh bookseller, so does not has teh familiarses wiht teh PU.

.

maxine*j · ‎07-25-2017

Since you replied directly to a post that's very old, and since a quick check of the profile shows that emmbook hasn't posted to the boards for many months, I was trying to be helpful. It backfired. I'll go away again.