by Steve Marshall

Created on: December 24, 2010   Last Updated: December 29, 2010

The dust jacket, or as it is sometimes referred to, the dust wrapper of a book is worth protecting, because it is a valuable part of the book, and because it is perhaps the part of a book that is most prone to damage.

A book with a very good dust jacket is worth more than a book without one, or with one in only a very bad, or poor condition. Book dealers like the word poor rather than bad. There are various gradings used to describe the condition of a book, and these also apply to describing its dust jacket.

The dust jacket is a valuable part of any book, and it is well worth protecting.

This article will give the reader some ideas of how to go about protecting this very valuable asset of a good book, or of any book, for that matter.

The dust jacket was first created, to offer extra protection to the book, and to take some of the wear and tear away from the actual book. It is usually a removable paper covering or wrapper, that wraps around the book. They are only a fairly recent addition to a book, only coming in vogue, during the 19th century. They became more popular during the early periods of the 20th century.

Dust jackets are more usually only applied to hardcover books, and the cheaper paperbacks, usually do not require, or go through the extra expense of creating a separate dust wrapper for them. A hard cover has stiff cardboard boards, that can be covered in either cloth, paper, or even leather. A paperback, as the name suggests, usually only just has a paper cover to match.

The best way to protect the dust jacket is to cover it with a removable plastic sleeve.

The worst way, at least from a book collector's viewpoint, would be to cover it with a contact type of adhesive plastic, that sticks to the actual jacket, and so cannot be very easily removed. They become a permanent feature to the book, or in other words, now a permanent part of the book.

These self adhesive book covers are still popular for covering children's books, or even some higher level highly used textbooks, but they are never used by serious book collectors. When they are used, they are applied to the outside of the jacket, and which is then placed back around the book.

These come in different sizes and thicknesses, and can even be strong enough to offer some rigidity to the book.

The non permanent removable covers offer the best form of protection for collectors.

These can be in the form of wrap around plastic film, or slip on covers. Both methods are quick and easy, offering good

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