Forum - View topicManga Restoration (De-Yellow Page Edges): Anybody successfully done so or know of a place?
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truanifan678
 Posts: 73 |
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I’m stuck on trying to hunt down this one old series, but ever single copy I find for sale has that awful yellowed pages look along the top edges. The rest of the book is in great shape; it’s just that top edge. Normally, yellowing or discoloration is due to humidity or a lot of light exposure (a severely simple explanation). Many manga sellers/readers say, “That’s normal for manga.” and shrug it off, but I have 10+ year old manga that’s barely changed color. The books I’m looking to buy have covers in great shape; it’s just those blasted yellow pages.
Anyway, my question is if anybody has any tips or tricks for ridding manga page edges of that yellowing. I’ve tried sandpaper on some expendable volumes, but it makes the edges far too smooth and they end up looking different than the rest of the manga. (Plus, using sandpaper on a manga volume made me cry inside.) Are there restoration products or services for books/comics/manga to bring the whiteness (or off-whiteness) of the pages back? A quick search revealed options for Golden Age comics, but obviously slightly more recent (last 10 years) manga isn’t in need of that extreme a treatment. I’m just trying to figure it out since I love to collect manga, but I love for it to look good too. |
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hyojodoji
Posts: 586 |
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In Japan, some second-hand bookshops grind yellowed page edges of manga with a machine, and there are also companies that undertake to grind yellowed page edges of books.
Since 'laymen' don't have such a machine, if there isn't a 'chemical' way, an option would be to sand them with fine sandpaper, which is a way I sometimes see at free knowledge exchange websites about that problem. You seem to hesitate to use sandpaper on manga, though. |
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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It also depends on the quality of the paper. Comics One and CMX seem to be pretty problematic, Shounen Jump-series and regular Tokyopop stuff appear to be vulnerable as well. Viz and Dark Horse TPB's from the 90s however, not much to worry about there. The oldest Dutch Glénat books could star in tooth paste commercials. |
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Lokarunith
 Posts: 30 Location: Portugal |
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I don't know if it could help but if the problem is only the edges of the book you could try to do like some japanese manga editions (like xxxHolic) and paint with some special ink the edges of the book.
I bet it's not. But unfortunately people are accustumed to the ultra crappy paper used by many publishers. |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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My librarian roommate's first thought was that it was likely from age, and there's nothing you can do about that. The quality of the paper will determine if/when it starts to yellow.
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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This exactly, I lived in humidity filled Florida for years, and the majority of my books have stayed white, while random volumes from various publishers have yellowed. It's paper quality. It happens with age, especially if they use any sort of newsprint. Go to any used book store and you'll see mass market paperbacks after a certain age are all yellow and that's because those use cheap paper due to them being mass markets. The fact that I have yellowed pages doesn't bug me in the least as long as I still have the book to read. I don't think it's possible even to reverse the effect. I have various volumes from the Japanese XXXholic release and I can tell you those volumes won't yellow anytime soon. That manga has the BEST paper quality I have ever seen for a manga release, and they make the American editions looks downright ugly and cheap. |
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truanifan678
Posts: 73 |
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Ah, the yellow I'm referring to isn't the normal discoloration that occurs from just sitting casually on a shelf or from age. I'm talking about dark yellowing. For example...
Both books are the same age. One has been taken care of while the other has been exposed to florescent lights, sunlight, or whatever causes this change in the paper. I've seen books with yellowing even darker than the dark one. I've also seen them where there's a clear line between the section of the book exposed to the light and the section covered by the shelf. Sadly, paper quality for manga seems to have dropped a lot over the years. At least for the mainstream stuff (a lot of Shonen Jump titles I buy). Some of the titles aimed for a maturer audience get a higher quality of paper. I wish all manga got that bright white paper. Nice, crisp, and white. Manga from years ago, for example a couple Viz titles from back in the 90's, have that nice white paper and has stayed white and don't show signs of discoloring any time soon. I was mainly asking if anybody had attempted to restore the whiteness (or off-whiteness) of manga. I know paper discolors with age. I've been given old Golden Age comics, old copies of The Hobbit, books from the 70s, etc. and they have all slightly changed color. I'm primarily asking about recent manga (circa 90's to present). Thanks for the feedback. ^^ |
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darknessblades
Posts: 30 Location: EU (im not from the UK) |
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i dont know or this is against copyright
but you can scan it and then use paint/other paint program, to remove it --------------------------------------------------------------------- use this only for personal use not for any way to make money on it this is against copyright (even i know it) |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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That said, since this is UV-caused damage, it's almost certainly more than just surface-level, so I'm pretty sure that even if it were possible to actually undo it, it'd cost a pretty penny. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10030 Location: Virginia |
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Even with old and expensive books, they don't try to fix this sort of thing. They just note the problem in the quote. I really don't recommend attempting this unless you have an extra copy. You will probably not keep the book you worked on.
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