Grade, conserve, store
The book as an object.
A number on a label is not a condition report. We write what we see, submit copies for third-party encapsulation when it serves the collector, and repair only what should be repaired.
North-light inspection
Every copy is opened under even daylight in the gallery. We look at the wraparound, the staples, the centre fold, and the last page, not just the cover.
Written grade
A 10-point grade plus a sentence list of defects. Restoration, if present, is named. We would rather lose a sale than bury a press or a colour touch.
Encapsulation
When a collector wants a slab, we prepare the copy, submit it to a recognised grading service, and photograph the label on return. Fees are billed at cost plus a handling charge written up front.
Aftercare
Mylar and board for raw copies, upright storage for slabs, and a note on humidity for houses that still have open fires.
What we will not do
- We do not press a book to chase a number and then sell it as unrestored.
- We do not colour-touch covers or bleach pages. If a conservator proposes either, it is written as treatment, not as grading.
- We do not crack a slab to “improve” a copy. A label is a record of a moment, not a dare.
- We do not offer dealer grades that sit a point above what we would write for a stranger.
Conservation, not cosmetics
Tears that will grow, rusty staples that will stain, and tape that is already failing: those we treat, using Japanese tissue, wheat starch, and replacements that can be reversed. A spine roll that a collector has lived with for forty years is often left alone.
Work is quoted after inspection. We do not take in a book for “a tidy” without a written brief.
Submit a copy
UK collectors can post a book for a written grade and, if wanted, encapsulation. Pack it as if it were leaving here. We acknowledge the parcel the day it arrives.
Arrange a submission