Last week I talked about trimming the fat on my collection. A reader commented that binding my floppies, like how libraries manage their periodicals, is a good way to store one’s collection. Sweet fancy Moses, I can’t believe I never considered this before!
I have a number of books that I want to read again and again that will NEVER be collected in the trades. Such as comics from now closed publishers. All of Jim Shooter’s Defiant Comics, for instance. Bound in hardbacks they can live on the shelf with my other trades and be more available for reading.
Sweet!
There are a number of sites that offer the service. Daniel Banks has a great site with lots of pictures. Library Binding has the details and a bit more info on prices.
I am totally doing this. Thanks for the tip!
September 19th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I would really love to do this, but it seems like it would be a bit cost-prohibitive and take forever for a large collection.
A man can dream, though…
September 19th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Time to pull out some of my old stuff!
:)
Nightcrawler by Dave Cockrum to name one.
Thanks for the links!
September 19th, 2008 at 11:55 am
My collector’s heart weeps at this monstrosity…
September 19th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Sluggo – check around, it’s not too expensive. Library Binding’s basic binding is only $15. Of course you pay shipping on top of that.
To solve that issue, check locally, I found 4 binders within 10 minutes of my office and one offered similar options for $19.50 per stack of comics.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Its David Banks
http://www.dpbanks.com
-Neil Cameron
September 19th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Whoops! My bad!
September 19th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Binding comics is a wonderful thing. It’s a way of making your collection more readable, and also preserving it in a way that simultaneously spits on speculator scum.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Don’t you lose a considerable amount in the spine area for comics that originally were saddle-stitched (which is most of them)?
September 21st, 2008 at 5:51 pm
omike015:
How much gutter loss is variable.
For many older comics (pre-90′s), full-bleed artwork was rare, so oversewn binding results in little or no artwork loss to the gutter. (You lose maybe 1/8 to 3/16 inch of the left hand edge of the cover.)
I use a binder that prefers to bind comics through the fold (smythe-sewn). I have no gutter loss inside the book. Some glue must be applied between the books, so I still lose that little bit on the far left edge of the front cover… but the inside is great. http://www.thehfgroup.com/cc-pennsylvania.htm
Roy:
You’d be surprised at some of the prices that custom-bound comics will bring. If the binding job itself is done well, the books retain all or most of their value. In some cases where the individual floppies have little value, binding can actually *increase* the realized purchase price.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:22 am
I would like this but it would be cost prohibitive.