Generally speaking, all books, but especially medieval incunabula and manuscripts, have, since the beginning, been exposed to a level of deterioration. These texts are teetering on the edge of a cliff. They have been damaged by inadequate conservation and frequent, constant and intense use by readers. The passage of time has aged them and, on occasion, the subject matter has also been rendered obsolete.
Reaching this point, the people in charge of their care have estimated that certain volumes, given both their physical and textual state, are useless. From this moment on, they have been put to another use and are being transformed into materials to be reused. Many of these battered and worn books have been sold on the second-hand market, where different professionals came to stock up on old and deteriorated parchment and paper, with the intention of reusing them in their respective trades.
