Hello to all.

I have a small clip on lamp that I use to light the front of my bookcase. My wife had it before moving in with me. It still has the electronic spiral CFL she used in her apartment, and I have noticed lateley that the spines of the books in the bookcase are starting to fade. I am wondering if the UV emitted from the CFL is the culprit. The bookcase is beside a window (not directly in front of it) that faces northwest. Would an incandescent (40 or 60 watts) emit less UV than whatever CFL is there ? I would think so, but I am not entirely sure.

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

The UV may come from both sides: CFL, as well as the window.
Don't forget, than the UV in the daylight is highly scattered, so it shine from all sides, not only where the sun actually is.
So if itis the CFL, replacing to incandescent would reduce the UV. But if it is from the daylight, the incandescent may add another stress from the heat (overdried  glue start breaking, so mainly the older books may "disassemble")...

Thanks, Medved.

If incandescent produces less UV than CFL, I will change it. The window is still a source of UV, but I will have to reduce that with curtains. At least the UV source from the artificial lighting will be reduced.

If you can give up high brightness, you can try LED - no much heat and no UV at all, but compact LED retrofit lamps with power of more than couple watt tend to overheat and burn out fast

What work quite reasonably are the LED ribbons, but they should be really mounted in the aluminum battens designed for them, as even the ribbons need a heatsink.
But it depend on the arrangement - if such thing is usable for you or not...

I replaced the CFL with an incandescent for now. Maybe later, when time permits, I will try something else.