How To Remove Those Stubborn @!%&! Stickers From Your Used Books

If you buy a lot of books from second-hand bookstores, thrift stores, etc., you know that some of these establishments use some very, very stubborn pricing stickers. As opposed to the ones that peal away easily, without a problem. I don't know if they're worried about sticker switching, or if the hard to remove, potentially book-damaging ones are just cheaper.

So, here's a method for easily removing those bloody stickers! It'll work fine with any HC or PPB, which has a glossy or coated cover. I wouldn't try it on really old, papery covers. I've done this bunches and bunches of times and have only damaged a jacket once, doing so. I believe that in this case, the sticker had been on the jacket so long that it may have caused some molecular bonding. If that's the case, you're screwed anyway. Still, you might want to be reticent about doing this with anything really, really valuable. I've use this method confidently with books worth a couple of hundred dollars, so there you are. It worked fine with the one AD&D HC I experimented with.

What you will need: A paper towel and some Lighter Fluid. The Lay's Sweet Southern BBQ potato chips are optional.

1. Spray a decent amount of Lighter Fluid onto the paper towel. Then, quickly, firmly, but gently, rub the sticker, as well as the edges of the sticker. You'll get some fluid on the cover, but don't sweat it. Also, any ink on the sticker will run, so be careful not to rub it onto the cover of the book. As I said above, don't dawdle, because the Lighter Fluid is gonna evaporate, fast.

2. Wipe away any Fluid not on the actual sticker, which hasn't evaporated yet. Wait about 20 seconds. For a really stubborn sticker, you might want to repeat that first step.

3. As gently as possible, lift up an edge of the sticker with your fingernail and carefully start pealing. Do this with other edges, as well. This should be relatively easy, as the integrity of the sticker and glue will have been significantly damaged by the Lighter Fluid. You'll want to be careful of leaving finger nail indentions. You may get a lot off with this first round of applications, or just some. Regardless, you'll probably be left with a mixture of partial paper layers and glue.

4. Apply another Lighter Fluid wipe and wait another 20 seconds, or so. Then run your thumb and/or the paper towel over the area. Most of the remaining offensive material should come off, quite easily. You may need one or two more applications, to remove any remaining glue.

5. That's it! Lighter Fluid may be profitably used, to remove other sorts of stains/material from books. There is an actual commercial product that does this. I think it's called Goo-gone. I've never used it and have no idea how much it costs. Lighter Fluid is cheap!