How To Ship a Book

First, wrap the book with clean tissue, kraft paper, or other wrapping paper (not newsprint!) as if for a gift, to keep it clean and to provide the first level of immobility to the position of its pages, within its covers. Don't tape the paper TO the book . . .

Remember: Keeping the book from shifting around in its covers, and then keeping it from banging itself around within its box, are your ultimate aims — you can't control what happens outside the box but you CAN control what happens inside it!

Next, wrap with padding (newspaper is fine here, or bubblewrap). Wrap both "around" and (in a separate pass) from top to bottom, so that if the padded item is bumped it will not be "dinged," or shift damagingly within its own binding. Tape the layers of padding securely. If you've been using newspaper rather than bubble wrap, it might be a good idea at this point to put the item into a CLEAN plastic bag to guard against moisture intrusion.

Then lay your padded-up, damp-protected book into a BOX — we stress that those popular "jiffisacks" are actually death to books) — using sufficient further padding so that the book can't shift within the box. More newspaper is fine for this purpose — or more bubblewrap.

Be sure to place a sheet of paper with your return address and the address you are shipping to inside the package, "just in case."

Finally, if the box holding the book is to be put into another box (like a FedEx box), the inside box should be wrapped with padding so that it can't shift within the outer one!

Do not wrap your shipping boxes in anything, and use strong tape to seal them, not string (outer paper can catch in sorting machinery, and most shippers nowadays will not even accept packages tied with string, for that reason).

In many parts of the U.S., there are mailing centers (with names like "Mailboxes, Etc.") where packing supplies and wrapping help can be had for small fees. These businesses will also see to it that your package is picked up by an appropriate carrier. We most commonly use "ground" UPS, insured, but other express companies AND THE U.S. POST OFFICE manage valuable shipments splendidly also — every day.

YES:
All this is a hassle, and adds to postage costs.

BUT:
Better hassle than heartbreak!

One PRB&M customer, writing that her order arrived so
splendidly packed as to "survive a nuclear blast at ground zero," wrote
an actual "ode" in celebration — click here !

    Please note that PRB&M's address for shipping/mailing differs slightly from its “visiting” address.  For letters or packages, please use:

PRB&M – Arsenal #4
5301 Tacony St – Ste 314
Philadelphia, PA 19137

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The Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company