Underscoring the needlessness of bad packaging, I just received 2 books (a set) that I bought on eBay, and I'm pretty sure these things would've survived if they'd been dropped from a helicopter:

- each book was wrapped in thin (relatively) bubble wrap
- the two books were placed together and wrapped in plastic wrap (kind of like Saran Wrap)
- this bundle was wrapped in thicker bubble wrap
- this wrapped bundle was enclosed with cardboard (not quite a box; it didn't close)
- the parts of this cardboard enclosure that overhung the shape of the book-bundle was filled in with foam inserts (making the entire thing a kind of brick with no indents)
- that brick was wrapped again in bubble wrap
- all inside the final cardboard box

The books themselves are immaculate and appear never to have been touched (I think they were printed around 1950); I bought them because they appeared (in the listing) to be in much better condition than other such sets I'd seen for sale. It was nice that the seller made sure they stayed that way when they fell into my clutches.