On a first edition the price often sits in the dust jacket, in the imprint, and in a signature, not in the reading. A jacket with a tear is a different price. In the overview Security for collectors books sit with the paper.

What breaks without a thief

Light on the signature, damp, mold, a shelf that warps the boards, sun at the window spot. You store them upright, not in a packed row that presses the text block, dry, dark. You take the jacket by the edges and you do not lay it loose on the pile.

When someone comes

Nobody takes a whole shelf in five minutes. The ten books with a name and a jacket do, if they stand at eye level. Those ten do not stand there. They stand inconspicuously, or they lie, when the price calls for it, in a locked cabinet, jacket protected, proof elsewhere.

The folder

Author, title, year, printing or edition, condition of the jacket, signature yes or no, proof. A photo of the imprint, the jacket, and the signature. The policy lists the expensive volumes one by one.