Wet Books

After a long exhausting day at work, you're relaxing in a hot tub full of fragrant bubbles reading a juicy book. You're on the good part...then your worst nightmare happens.  The book falls our of your hands into your bathtub. Can your wet book be salvaged?

If you retrieve it from the bathtub just as it hits the water, you have a chance to minimize damage. 

If the book has a dust jacket, remove it.  Quickly but gently pat dry the dust jacket (both sides), the book's covers and spine, and all the book pages.  Use dry sponges, clean bath towels, or any other absorbent cloth that's handy, including your clothing.  Single-ply paper towels absorb moisture, but they disintergrate, adding shreds of wet toweling to dry on damp book surfaces.  A double-ply paper towel will not only absorb moisture; it is less likely to leave debris that you will have to remove from the book.

A hair dryer, at its lowest temperature, can help propel the water away from the paper surfaces and spines.  A lot depends on the paper.  Coated paper and dust jackets will soak up water more slowly than uncoated paper.

When you have removed as much excess water as possible by blotting, carefully open the book, insert double-ply paper towels between the pages. This keeps the pages from clinging together, and allows for some evaporation.  Stand the book upright so that its pages are not compressed. Keep air moving by using a fan but do not directly point it toward the book. Change the paper towels regularly until the pages are dry.  

Another option, is to put the books in a damp-resistant container and an absorbent natural product, such as pipe tobacco. Sprinkle stale pipe tobacco in the container, and place the book inside, double-ply paper towels still between the pages.  Periodically check the book for progress.  Replace the double-ply towel sheets as they gather moisture.

You might place the wet book in a window for three hours a day, during the middle of the day.  If there are covers that might fade in the sun, shield them from the light, letting them absorb the warmth.  Exposing the book to sunlight accomplishes two things, the method dries books without baking them, and it retards the growth of spores and bacteria, which books might acquire in the bathwater or when wet, from the surrounding air. 

Please note:  It's rarely possible to restore a wet book to anything like its original condition.  However, you may be able to dry it off enough so you can finish that juicy book!   If it's an expensive book then you might want to bring it to a professional.