Here's the scoop:
1. Our books have a lifetime guarantee on binding and workmanship - That means under normal use, these babies should last a long long time. The pages are bound and sewn into the binding, just like people have been binding books for hundreds of years. Not only will they last, but the books can be recovered and rebound if needed in 100+ years, just like that ancient family bible from Great Grandpa.
2. Completely archival printing and papers - the papers are all archival and acid free, so there should be no yellowing or fading of the images. In fact, the images are supposed to outlast even photographic prints. As I'm sure you know, photographic paper uses a chemical development process. After 100 or so years, even the best photographic images may start to fade. Our printing process is just heat bonding pigments to an archival paper. It's a permanent process with no chemical reactions, so there is no reaction that may cause fading or color issues down the road.
3. These are printed just like real fine-art coffee table books, so the pigments are not water soluble. While I wouldn't recommend getting the pages wet, if they did get a little water on them, there is no worry about the "inks" running or smearing, as they aren't inks. Once the book is printed, the images are a permanent part of the paper fibers. That being said, I'd keep the books away from water and probably really humid situations. That's more for the paper than the images. Anywhere that paper won't live nicely, is probably a place where our books won't like it either.
There are two real enemies for the books:
UV Light - The pages are not UV coated, as we like keeping the natural feel of the papers, and coating the papers would lose that feel. That means if you had a book, sitting open in direct sunlight for 5 years, that open spread will start to fade. Normal usage will be fine, and cover images are UV coated for protection.
Extreme Heat - And I mean EXTREME heat, like oven hot! I wouldn't have even mentioned this one, but it happened last summer. We had a photographer in Phoenix that kept their book in the trunk of their car all summer long in Phoenix. It must have been 300+ degrees in that trunk, as it reactivated the heat bonding, and some of the pages that faced each other bonded together. As long as you don't put the book in an oven, or keep it all summer long in a hot car trunk, you'll never see this.
In general, as long as the books are treated with respect and care, like a loved coffee-table book, they'l last a LONG long time.