D&D 5E 5E's poor book bindings

[lichhouse]

I'm on my second monster manual, second player's handbook, and several of the earlier adventure books the pages have started to crack away from the spine. (I'm very much spoiled by the higher book quality in 1E AD&D or some of the indy OSR publishers - those 70's books were indestructible). Couple of questions:

• Anyone else trashed copies of their books through use over the 5-6 years - bindings cracked, pages coming loose?
• Were there special editions of the core rulebooks that included a higher quality binding or publishing characteristics?
• Have more recent printings improved the quality of the bindings?

I tried a search but didn't see anything, maybe I'm just tough on books!

 

[Parmandur]

I'm on my second monster manual, second player's handbook, and several of the earlier adventure books the pages have started to crack away from the spine. (I'm very much spoiled by the higher book quality in 1E AD&D or some of the indy OSR publishers - those 70's books were indestructible). Couple of questions:

• Anyone else trashed copies of their books through use over the 5-6 years - bindings cracked, pages coming loose?
• Were there special editions of the core rulebooks that included a higher quality binding or publishing characteristics?
• Have more recent printings improved the quality of the bindings?

I tried a search but didn't see anything, maybe I'm just tough on books!

My first PHB went under, and WotC replaced it for free. You should contact WotC if you have an issue, they have an extremely generous replacement policy. The general quality is good, but a bum copy will show itself eventually.

 

[Lylandra]

My PHB crashed on the binding as well... never had that problem before, my 3.x books were pretty much indestructible

 

[aco175]

My brothers PHB fell apart and mine is ok, but the MM is sagging. I thought there was talk on these boards early in the edition on this.

 

[Zardnaar]

MM and PHB both broke.

SCAG looks dodgy.

 

[Khelon Testudo]

My books are fine, and I bought them... when the new edition came out. I put an old Chessex vinyl over-cover on the PHB, which gets the most use. But I've had no problems. (Maybe it depends where you live - perhaps the exported books were made of sterner stuff? I live in Australia.)

 

[LordEntrails]

Digital versions never degrade At least not in my lifetime!

 

[Stormonu]

30 pages fell right out of my PHB after about 2 years of minimal handling. I had one problem book back in 3E, several issues with my 4E books, and I treat my 5E books now with extreme care - I can already see/hear that the MM binding has popped. For this edition, my physical books stay on the shelf and I use digital versions instead. I haven't before feared letting my by books be used in regular play, but for 5E nobody but me gets to touch them.

I still have my 1E & 2E books, and they lived in a backpack being hauled back and forth to school daily. They're still in usable shape.

 

[FrogReaver]

My PHB fell apart quickly.

 

[Orcslayer78]

My PHB is perfect, but to tell the truth I have the italian edition so it should be different