In defense of those who try to protect their cookbooks from the wear and tear of the kitchen, I will say that it doesn't have to detract from using them and enjoying them. But yes, since my husband and I now view our books as a collection that has value, we've stopped writing in them (post-its work) and putting them in harm's (food's) way. Thankfully, I was never into dog-earring my pages.
I'd never thought that dust jackets would be objectionable. That is a new one to me. I find them generally to be so much more attractive than the hard cover, and they do serve a purpose. And from a collector's perspective, of course, they add
significant value, even if less than pristine, which is often par the course for cookbooks in particular.
Of course, these days, many cookbooks are published
sans DJs, so it's a moot point.
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After posting the above, I had a kind of flashback to pre-collecting days. I remembered that I used to find dustjackets inconvenient...they got in the way and kept falling off the covers. I think I probably even (gasp) threw some away.
As for tattered old books and recipes, I inherited the private collections of both my mom and my mother-in-law. They will always be my most prized! Those, and the copy of The Settlement Cookbook given to me when I got married, which for some odd reason I recovered in whatever kitchen shelf liner I was using way back then.