I purchased an original 1907 Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogue online recently and I was excited to find it in my mailbox yesterday! Unfortunately, the pages are dry and brittle, and crumble easily. This is what I saw when I unwrapped the package.
Many of the pages are too ruined for me to scan any decent images from but many, many more pages, or partial pages, are intact and will be fine for me to work with. I’ll just have to be extremely careful with each page I touch because the paper tears and crumbles easily. I look forward to sharing some of the vintage images from this catalogue with you – before it turns to dust! For starters, here is the aged, partially crumbled, cover page. 
Click on image to enlarge.
Julie is a vintage enthusiast and a Photoshop addict who collects old books and new recipes.
Contact her at: theolddesignshop(at) gmail(dot)com
I know how you feel. I absolutely ADORE old books – most of the time, I can’t bear to rip out a single page – but some people have no idea how to store them. I’ve seen people at antiques and flea markets put them in plastic, thinking they’re being protected while in reality they’re trapping moisture and leading to the dilapidation of the book in question. 🙁
I brought a copy from an auction a few years back. I paid $5.00. The catalog is missing the following pages 25 -76, 91 – 98, 101 – 258, 261 – 344, and 1169-70. Amazing ,with almost 300 pages missing, it still looks like a full catalog. Though the pages are browning , they are not brittle. I keep my copy in a stored open plastic magazine bag.I too have much enjoyment.
I had one of the repo of the old catalog….Lost it moving I guess…. Use to sit on the catalogues at my grandparents so I could get up to the table! lol