Various book series -- Library of America, Dutton's Everyman, and now
Modern Library, I think -- advertise themselves as being printed on
"acid-free paper".  I understand that this has something to do with
how long the book will last.  Somebody enlighten me.  How long does
it take for the pages of a book not printed on acid-free paper to
deteriorate?  How long can a book printed on acid-free paper be
expected to last?

7 responses total.

I have no technical knowledge, but the rate of deterioration certainly
depends on part on the acid content of the paper (and, I think, the ambient
humidity).  I have seen books with fairly cheap pulp paper whose pages were
becoming quite fragile after a mere 5 years or so.  For what it's worth,
this kind of deteriorating paper often triggers my allergies - I can't read
it without stopped-up sinuses, noticeable asthma, sneezing, often headache.

Dave is right.  There is no set time or formula to determine the rate of
deterioration, but it can be fairly predictable.  It is highly dependent
upon humidity and extremes of temperature.  Museum buffs will notice the
low-humidity, constant temp the literary treasures are stored in, and I
know the Library of Congress has special climate- and contaminant-
control rooms for certain priceless books.  My alma mater, Auburn, and
my former employer, its library, had a special collections floor that 
was quite particular about the climate for that reason.  Books decay
quickly in the South.  I've colllected antique books for years, and the
ones I've happened upon since I've been down here are in much worse shape
t
rather, than those I've acquired in colder clihello!
hello there!

The acid in modern paper comes from the use of chlorine to bleach the
pulp. Newsprint is washed very little, so it deteriorates in a year
to too. "Fine papers" pulps are washed more, and last longer. But
some of the chlorine reacts with the paper, and releases it acidity
years later, and the paper becomes brittle and discolors. Thisis
all I know off-hand. My oldest book is a copy of _Euclid's Elements_
published in English in 1660. The paper is foxy but still quite
competent - no signs of acid attack. But then, they didn't use any
chlorine in 1660!

Sorry about @#2...wasn't meant to got out without some editing, but it 
slipped through.  What I had been getting at is that the books I've
collected from Alabama and Georgia (ostensibly native to the region)
are in much worse condition than some I've collected up north and over-
seas.  I've got a wonderful Noah Webster textbook called "Useful Studies,
printed in 1839 on hemp paper.  It is spotted in places by the oh-so-
careful scholars who must have used it, but the paper is nearly as white
as modern papers, and much thicker and stronger than today's texts.  Not
brittle at all.  
Hemp paper is excellent for the aforementioned qualities, but its 
recreational uses are frowned upon by the government.  Our venerable 
Constitution is written on hemp paper.

I don't believe that hemp paper contains any residual cannabis, does
it? The recreational use of such paper should be the same as for any
other paper (except, it may last longer).

I've read that it does.  I would never *try* to find out from any of my
books, but some of the cheaper type papers made then used pretty much
the whole plant, with no lasting ill effects on the quality of the paper,
other than that it was darker than the more expensive white paper. At
any rate, it's much better paper, in my opinion.  None of my own text-
books have held up nearly as well as my 1839 specimen.

haah

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