Ideas for display case?

[Chris Oakley]

I would like to build a display case to hold autographed books. The books are all autographed on the title page, so I would like to be able to prop them open. Anyone have any ideas?

[Todd Burch]

I don't think it would have to be too deep if like a book-case style case. Did you want them leaning like a plate on a shelf or flat, like in a coffee-table display box?

[Chris Oakley]

I don't think it would have to be too deep if like a book-case style case. Did you want them leaning like a plate on a shelf or flat, like in a coffee-table display box?

Todd:

I think that the plate on a shelf might be good to be able to show the cover, but don't know how to keep the book open. I'm worried that if they were kept flat I might have to put pressure on the book and may damage the binding.

[Hans Kribbel]

Happy New Year guys.

I have done open books for display before. We had very valueable antique books to display behind glass. We used, as recommended by our book restorator, regular liquid rubber glue, which you can buy in any office supply store. Just dab a little spot on the back of those pages which wont stay in open position and you're done. Late you can easily peel the rubber spot of without damaging even the most delicate , 200 year old paper and no residue stays on the pages either.
As I said I have done this some years ago on about 70 old books with great success. So I wonder why this should not work for you.

Also, be carefull with your open book display. You need to purchase either UV-reflecting glass panes or UV-reflecting coating to prevent the fading of you signatures as well as of the print. Do not use Plexi glass, which does not reflect UV-rays at all. UV-reflecting glass does'nt have to be tinted.

Last thing. If you design your shelves, you may consider to build them with fixed insalled book holders. They are easily made and look like a guitar stand without the neck brace. I have no pic of it right now but there are some fancier designs out there. They are really cool when they are part of the shelf, because nothing scoots around and if the displaycase gets moved our somebody bumps into it, nothing tumbles from the shelves.

Good luck and post a pic when you are finished.