jephyork wrote:
Acid-free archival tape, then.

Also wear special gloves and read your books in the dark, because light and the oils from your skin damage books over time too. wink.gif

-Jeph!

That approach sounds a bit risky, as repeatedly openning the book could loosen the spine and turning all of those pages one at a time could result in ripped or accidentally dog-eared pages. It would be much safer to locate scans of the pages or to buy old, fair-condition floppies of the issues collected. Then you could leave the books safely on the shelf.

Seriously, though, Drew, I can empathize. Early in my days of buying Masterworks I got one with a ripped dust jacket and it took me a long time before I justified upgrading it by buying a copy of it in which the book had scribbling on it but the dust jacket was NM. For years now the first thing I have done when I get a new Masterwork is to open the shrinkwrap and put on a Broadart cover (just-a-fold). Good luck.