Rant: That vintage bookbinding warehouse in Portland gave me the creeps

I drove down to Powell's old annex last weekend to pick up some leather scraps from a guy I found on Craigslist. Walked into this dusty warehouse and saw stacks of books piled up near a leaky pipe. Water was dripping right onto these old cloth-bound volumes, no tarp or anything underneath. The guy said they've been storing books there for 15 years without issues. I pointed to the mold spots on the bottom shelf and he just shrugged. Then I noticed the temperature was all over the place too, like 80 degrees near the window and 60 in the back. That kind of swinging humidity is a death sentence for paper and glue. I told him he should at least put down some pallets and a dehumidifier, but he acted like I was being dramatic. Has anyone else run into storage setups that made your skin crawl?

2 comments

2 Comments

davis.dylan1mo ago

I mean, I get that seeing books piled up near a leaky pipe isn't ideal, but "death sentence for paper and glue" feels a little over the top. Those old cloth-bound volumes have survived God knows what the last 50-100 years (probably attics and basements way worse than this warehouse). A little temperature swing and some mold spots might not be great, but it's not like they're rare first editions worth thousands. The guy's been doing it for 15 years without issues, so maybe he just knows his stuff better than you think. And honestly, if you're buying leather scraps off Craigslist from a dusty warehouse, the standards probably weren't that high to begin with.

hugo_singh1mo ago

So 15 years of dodging mold spots qualifies as "knowing his stuff" now?