[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Many years ago I bought MMPBs because they were affordable and took up (relatively) little space. But I quickly realized that for me, I was throwing my money away. Too often the spines were damaged after the first read and certainly after the second or third read. Covers tore easily, almost as easily as a dust jacket, and the pages tended to deteriorate rapidly. MMPBs were great for books that I wanted to read and then give away and never see again, but not for books that I might want to reread or have in my library for others to borrow and read or for my children/grandchildren to inherit.

What are people doing to their books?

We have a whole bunch of Agatha Christie books of various vintages that we got from my parents, who got them from my great-aunt. The one in worst condition I could find from a quick scan is from 1961, so is almost 60 years old, and I'd say that is now at the point of falling apart. It cost 2/6 in old money (which I think would be about USD$2 adjusting for inflation), that seems pretty good value. I've got dozens of others from the same source and the same vintage that are still fine. The ones from the 70s are absolutely fine.

I just dug out one book that was printed in 1983, loaded out by a library until 1990 and then I bought it. So 37 years old, 6ish of which was in public library usage. It is still completely fine.

I'm not arguing that a well-made hardback will last longer, of course it will, I have several sets from the late 19th century that are still in good condition, some from the mid 19th century that are readable with care, although a set from the early 19th century has completely lost its covers, as the binding from the front and back covers to the spine has completely disintegrated.

But a MMPB, treated well, should last a couple of generations, and I have shelves full of ones that have.

I have hardcovers that I bought in the 70s and 80s that I have read more than once but that still appear to be new. I have hardcovers from the 50s and 60s that show minimal wear. The biggest wear on the older books occurs on the dust jackets, extra care is required to preserve them.

My experience with hardbacks is that if you actually want to read them rather than just store them you might as well just throw away the dust jacket as soon as you buy the book, as in normal use it will get damaged immediately.

I only have a very small number of modern hardbacks, but it seems the trend now is to print the design directly onto the cover, rather than have a dust jacket, which I totally approve of.

A good example is my set of the Saga of Recluce books by L.E. Modesitt Jr. I have the complete series in hardcover and even the first book (published in 1991) is in near-new condition after having been read by several times by several people.

I have the same set in paperback, it is also in excellent condition

As others have indicated, whether the ebook, the trade paperback, the MMPB, or the hardcover is the preferred format is wholly up to the reader. It depends on what the reader wants from a book.

Absolutely.