I sure do hate acrylic.
The Everyman's Library series is very nice for its price range; it's a shame they're encumbered by this flaw. Maybe I just have sweaty hands or something but this seems unavoidable.
Related, I would strongly recommend no one buy the hardback penguin classics, for reasons hopefully obvious from the image.
Are there any nice book series without silly avoidable flaws like this? Am I the only one with this very first world problem?
Thats from hand sweat? The penguin looks like it was sitting in a puddle. I think maybe you should have your sweating looked it by a doctor.
Usually they're not too bad but occasionally the gold border on them literally looks like it's covered in glitter.
Use the dust cover?
Holy hell. I feel like my hands sweat a lot but I've never damaged or stained anything because of it, Including Everyman's and penguin classics. You might want to get that checked out.
Look how gross that copy of Anna Karenina is. Disgusting.
penguin one was in my bag during a flash rainstorm but it was pretty rough off before that.
All i do is hold them, woe is me.
>Maybe I just have sweaty hands or something
How are you reading your books with your hand over that part of the spine ? I can't picture holding a book in any position where that would be happening.
I think they look better worn away like that
It's supposed to look used. Otherwise people see them and think you don't read them and are using them as decoration.
Who cares? Your books show signs of being read. They are battle scars, soldier. Read on.
I tend to hold them one handed. Sometimes I walk with books too (guess which of the above I was walking with - I won't do that again).
Thank you kind posters for your words of encouragement. I guess I'll just stop being a baby and deal with it.
>I tend to hold them one handed
That's what I don't get. How are you keeping the book open if you're holding it in the middle of the spine and only using one hand ?
It's a real issue. My everyman's copy of Dante is quite bad off. I've since learned to treat everyman's editions a little more carefully.
isnt this what the paper cover is for?
i actually have this problem too, and I am also a huge sucker for those penguine deluxe versions, my back to a tale is meh at this point
they look better without that lazy looking black stamp on them imo
If we're talking about things we don't like about books:
paperbacks with non-glossy covers that peel and separate more easily
when the glue is obviously thin it isn't very assuring
when hardbacks are just glued to the back board, not sewn, and so the book creaks when you open it, and sounds like ripping
when the typeface becomes increasingly blurry and just about legible. this would be even more infuriating if english was my second language - it must start to resemble gothic script, or sumerian.
when books use movie tie in covers, as has been pointed out
when book spines in a series don't match up and foul up the unity of the whole thing.
when publishers re-issue a series with new design (e.g. SF Masterworks series)
on balance, though, books are still a pleasure to own.
Found Little Marco.
They're not always sold with the paper covers. My copy of the Aeneid was sold with a dust jacket, but there wasn't one for the Divine Comedy, nor were there covers for the Everyman's editions of Gibbon that I own.
To some extent I agree with you, though my autism is slightly triggered when I can't read the spine of a book when it's sitting on my shelves. Not a big deal all things considered, but it's still a bit annoying.
A taste of my grandmother's collection, Classics Club from 1942. Their age shows on the inside so I don't mess with them, but one day when I inherit them I will. I'd show all of them, but they're scattered around the house as set-pieces and so delicate I'd rather not risk hurting them to set them up for a picture.
What do you think? I'm not sure if Classics Club still publishes today.
Wow I'm not sure why the picture flipped that way, but Plato and them are standing up while Homer and the others are on their side.
They come with dust jackets you mongoloid