[barrysloate]

Brad- that's a very nice run of guides and constitutions you have.

I don't know if there is a significantly better way to store them. Unfortunately, the ones that flake are likely to continue doing so. There is a spray that conservators use to deacidify paper and it would make the pages a little more supple. But it would cost some money to do, and if the books are too far gone then you probably can't save them.

You could try to find some mylar bags to store each book in. That would be a good way to keep them when they are not being read, but when you take them out they would still be subject to flaking.

The way you have them now seems pretty reasonable. I'm assuming that they are not stacked on top of each other, so that if you need a book from the bottom you don't have to move ten others to get it.

I have a set of Spalding Guides from 1905-1942 but nearly all are bound in board covers, so I keep them in a barrister bookcase the way you would store any book. I guess the best thing you can do is handle them carefully when you use them, and perhaps to contact a paper conservator and see if he recommends deacidifying them. It could be costly, however.