Protective Bags for Your Paperback Books
UPDATE, JANUARY 1, 2023: GT Bag is now a subsidiary of Action Bags of Bensenville, Illinois. The GT Bag catalog No. #E5B5.75x8.625, is now the Action Bag catalog No. E6B5.75x8.625, a pack of 100 selling for $13.
I've been collecting mass-market paperbacks since 1974 and I don't know how many I own, as most of them are stored in boxes in my basement. I'm guessing it's more than 2,000.
Lately I've been thinking that I should make an effort to secure some of the older and more treasured titles in plastic bags, much like the comic book collectors do.
I have found two vendors of polypropylene bags for storing mass market paperbacks:
BCW sells their 5 “ x 7 3/8 “ bags on amazon. These bags can accommodate thinner (i.e., ~ 225 pages) mass market paperback books.
For thicker mass market paperbacks, you're going to want to visit the website of the GT Bags Company of Petaluma, California. GT Bags sells 5 3/4 “ x 8 5/8 “ bags which can accommodate paperbacks like the 544-page 1967 edition of ‘Dune’ from Ace Books (see accompanying photo). You also can easily fit two slimmer paperbacks into one GT Bags 5 3/4 “ x 8 5/8 “.
A sack of 100 of the GT Bags are slightly more expensive than a sack of 100 of the BCW bags, but they also feature an adhesive strip on the back of the bag that you can fold the lip over onto and fasten (you have to scotch-tape down the lip of the BCW bag). You can purchase the GT Bag products in smaller lots (i.e., 100 bags) or in bulk lots (i.e., 1000 bags)
The GT Bag 5 3/4 “ x 8 5/8 “ bags are [not] going to accommodate monster-sized mass market paperbacks, like the 1280-page Brandon Sanderson book ‘The Way of Kings’. I’m guessing a GT Bag 6” x 9” may accommodate such a monster size, but since I don’t buy the Sanderson tomes, I really don’t know.
Lately I've been thinking that I should make an effort to secure some of the older and more treasured titles in plastic bags, much like the comic book collectors do.
I have found two vendors of polypropylene bags for storing mass market paperbacks:
BCW sells their 5 “ x 7 3/8 “ bags on amazon. These bags can accommodate thinner (i.e., ~ 225 pages) mass market paperback books.
For thicker mass market paperbacks, you're going to want to visit the website of the GT Bags Company of Petaluma, California. GT Bags sells 5 3/4 “ x 8 5/8 “ bags which can accommodate paperbacks like the 544-page 1967 edition of ‘Dune’ from Ace Books (see accompanying photo). You also can easily fit two slimmer paperbacks into one GT Bags 5 3/4 “ x 8 5/8 “.
A sack of 100 of the GT Bags are slightly more expensive than a sack of 100 of the BCW bags, but they also feature an adhesive strip on the back of the bag that you can fold the lip over onto and fasten (you have to scotch-tape down the lip of the BCW bag). You can purchase the GT Bag products in smaller lots (i.e., 100 bags) or in bulk lots (i.e., 1000 bags)
The GT Bag 5 3/4 “ x 8 5/8 “ bags are [not] going to accommodate monster-sized mass market paperbacks, like the 1280-page Brandon Sanderson book ‘The Way of Kings’. I’m guessing a GT Bag 6” x 9” may accommodate such a monster size, but since I don’t buy the Sanderson tomes, I really don’t know.
Hopefully this post has given you some ideas of your options for storing and sheltering your paperbacks.
6 comments:
Hi,
I collect horror paperbacks from the 80's and early 90's. I've tried the BCW bags in your post and they're too small. I bought them prior to reading your post. But I was wondering, if the paperback books from the 80's you have, fit the GT bags, they should also fit mine right? 80's TOR, Pinaccle, Leisure, etc?
Thanks!
McCheese, yes, I have found that the GT bags fit almost all 80s paperbacks - for example, 'Footfall' by Niven and Pournelle, 'Jitterbug' by Michael McQuay, 'Heart of the Comet' by Brin and Benford.
However, they ARE too small for Hubbard's Battlefield Earth', a 1,066+ page mass-market paperback.
Hi, do you recommend buying from Action Bags. I see that they used to be GT Bags, are they still legit?
Anonymous, I have not purchased any bags from Action Bags. If you have, let us know here in the Comments what you think of them ?
Anonymous, did some checking and the Action Bags catalog No. E6B5.75x8.625 is equivalent to the GT Bag catalog No. E5B5.75x8.625. So, the Action Bags product measures 5 3/5 x 8 5/8 inches, suitable for mass-market paperbacks. Hope this helps.............
Thank you so much, that’s extremely helpful. I’m going to buy some, I’ll update here.
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