American Heirloom Project: Build the right kind of library

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

When I first saw the Amazon Kindle, I was in love. Here was a device that would allow me to carry thousands of books that would fit in my back pocket. I could order and read a book within minutes. It was the most awesome thing in the world to a book nerd like myself.

But there is a problem, and it’s one that I recognized right off.

If you lose power, you lose your reading material if it goes on long enough. For a couple of hours, it’s not a big deal. Over a few days, it becomes an issue.

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Plus, it turns out that there were other problems. For example, a while back I encountered an author who will remain nameless because I don’t want to deal with him again. His book might not be the worst book ever written, but it’s not good. His cover art is horrific, and this guy is notorious for lashing out at anyone who doesn’t like his work.

More to the point here, though, is the fact that while he’s convinced it’s the best book ever written, he’s done a lot of revision to it after publishing. Amazon pushed those revisions through, too, which means that the original version of that book is only in the print format.

Couple all of this with the fact that the entire system is fragile because it’s digital, and suddenly hard copy looks so much better.

The problem is that many of our hard copy books aren’t really that resilient, either.

Publishers have long looked for the best way to cut costs, as any industry does, and part of that involves using cheaper bindings. Books from the distant past are still around because the binding had a lot of advantages. They’re stitched, for one thing, so they don’t depend on glue to hold them together. The covers are often leather, which is very durable.

Today, though, glue is the primary thing keeping a book together, and it’s got a shorter shelf life.

A mass market paperback—think about the novels you might pick up at the bookstore that are small and relatively inexpensive—will last for a decade or two, but will eventually fall apart…and that’s if it’s treated very well. The way some people abuse them, they’re doing well to last until the reader is finished.

Hardcovers do a little better. They last 40 to 60 years, but then they’re kaput, too. Again, glue is a major factor in the binding, and that doesn’t last forever.

Yet there are other options, at least sometimes. A couple of days ago, I purchased my daughter’s homeschool curricula for the upcoming school year. We’re going to be dealing with some British lit because I think she’ll like Jane Austen. I ordered a copy of Pride and Prejudice with Smyth-sewn binding. This relies on the thread to hold it together more than the glue.

Plus, it’s possible to have such a book rebound should it need it, thus allowing it to last even longer. I’m not talking decades here, but centuries.

That’s resiliency.

Unfortunately, that’s not the typical binding method most publishers use.

So, while building a library to last throughout your lifetime and the lifetime of others, the need to compromise is unavoidable.

First, dismiss mass market paperbacks for anything you feel needs to be preserved. Personally, I’ll still use my Kindle for these. They might be enjoyable, but they’re nothing I feel like I need to keep around.

My favorite works of fiction come in the best hardcover binding I can find and afford. Easton Press makes spiffy Smyth-sewn bindings, but they’re expensive as hell. I can’t afford everything I’d want from them. Yet the Jane Austen book that I ordered was less than $20, so for some long-held classics, such bindings can be found. If so, get them.

When that kind of binding isn’t available, get the hardcover version and don’t sweat it. While the paper might not last as long as a super-spiffy archive-ready paper used on an ultra-high-end collectible book, it can be rebound when the glue and/or cover fails.

And yes, book binding is an important skill. If you find someone who has this hobby, make friends with them and find ways to ingratiate yourself with them without debasing yourself in the process. They have a skill and craft that isn’t super common, but should be.

That’s great, but what should I focus on first?

First, think about your life and your family. What kind of books are most important if everything cut off tomorrow, but you weren’t on your own for complete and total survival? What would matter to you?

Cookbooks are something I think every household should have, including homemade ones with family-favorite recipes, so this is an obvious place to start.

Books dealing with crafts and hobbies are probably important to you, too. For me, a lot of my woodworking books are actually Smyth bindings, so they’ll easily outlast me, but most of the others are hardcover or, at least, trade paperback—a kind of bastard offspring of mass market and hardcover, but with rebinding as an option; they can last a couple of centuries as they’re better made than mass market paperbacks—so they’ll need more work to stick around.

Yes, works of fiction are most definitely something you should have around, at least if you enjoy reading. This might be trickier than it should be, though. Publishers might publish in hardcover, but they don’t republish as often in hardcover, even for bestselling authors. That means you might need to go the used route, which is fine; just look for the best condition possible.

Honestly, my own take is that if you’re building with intentionality and from scratch, look at the books you never want to live without and start there.

How to store them

Bookcases are easy to find. A search for “bookcase” on Amazon returns 30,000 listings. That’s insane.

The thing is, though, almost all of them are designed to hold almost anything but books.

Oh, they can hold a few, but they’re not made to hold a shelf of them. Load them up and watch them sag. They’re styled for photographs with a few books and a knick-knack or two on each shelf, nothing else. That’s because they can’t handle anything more. If you look at the weight allowance for the shelves, you’ll see something like 20 lbs in many, if they bother to list it at all. Good books are heavier than that, though.

What you need for this are solid wood bookcases that have as many fixed shelves as possible. Also, look for a lip dropping down from the front of those solid wood shelves, particularly if there are any adjustable shelves. These help reinforce the shelf itself, keeping them from sagging when you put some weight on them.

This is a good time to look at antique or vintage furniture, but take the time to make sure you’re getting real wood and that it’s well made. We’ll take a look at that down the road when I’ve done a lot more research on the topic myself…or find someone who knows a buttload more than I do.

I will say that they’re not super difficult to make if you’re so inclined. The Anarchist’s Design Book has a straightforward plan for a bookcase that can be replicated as often as you like, and it doesn’t require a lot of tools to do it. AnaWhite.com also has a lot of options if you’re interested in going down this road, though these designs rely heavily on pocket screws, which I don’t trust for longevity. Still, it’s approachable, at least, and they’re real wood. That matters.

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Also, if at all possible, keep the books out of the sunlight. The sun is an amazing thing, but it’s bad for the paper in the long run. Taking a book out for a day in the park isn’t the issue; it’s the constant beating of it on the paper and bindings. While many people like to get as much natural light in their home as they can, and for good reason, this is one place you want to avoid it. Use curtains, you heathens!

Obviously, I can only touch the surface of something like this in a Substack post, but the truth is that knowledge matters. It must be preserved at all costs, and while technology is freaking amazing in allowing us to share that knowledge, we should never trust everything to such a fragile system. Plus, frankly, there’s something to paging through a physical book as opposed to tapping an e-reader screen.

I don’t want to bog down into the romance of physical media, in part because not everyone agrees, but the truth is that physical media can’t be meddled with by anyone. You can always see it as it was at the moment you purchased it, which is why I’ll also say that everyone should have a copy of the United States Constitution in that collection somewhere.

I think we all know why.

In the meantime, I want to know what’s on your mind about the American Heirloom Project. Is there anything you want me to look into? Are you annoyed by it? Let me know. Comments are open for all.