diff --git a/src/lib/books/reader/PdfReader.svelte b/src/lib/books/reader/PdfReader.svelte
index 2eddf56..76c8608 100644
--- a/src/lib/books/reader/PdfReader.svelte
+++ b/src/lib/books/reader/PdfReader.svelte
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 		type Rect
 	} from '#lib/books/shared.js';
 	import { clampZoom, pdfRows, rowIndexOf, type Spread } from './layout.js';
+	import { closePdf } from './pdf.js';
 	import { type EngineProps, type TocItem } from './types.js';
 
 	let {
@@ -370,6 +371,7 @@
 
 	onMount(() => {
 		let disposed = false;
+		let loadingTask: ReturnType<typeof import('pdfjs-dist').getDocument> | undefined;
 		const measure = () => {
 			width = scroller.clientWidth;
 			height = scroller.clientHeight;
@@ -450,15 +452,15 @@
 				pdfjs = await import('pdfjs-dist');
 				pdfjs.GlobalWorkerOptions.workerSrc = workerUrl;
 				onloading(0);
-				const task = pdfjs.getDocument({
+				const task = (loadingTask = pdfjs.getDocument({
 					url,
 					withCredentials: true,
 					rangeChunkSize: 1 << 20
-				});
+				}));
 				task.onProgress = ({ loaded, total }: { loaded: number; total: number }) =>
 					onloading(total ? Math.min(1, loaded / total) : null);
 				const doc = await task.promise;
-				if (disposed) return void doc.destroy();
+				if (disposed) return void closePdf(task);
 				pdf = doc;
 				onloading(null);
 				// Use the first page's size for every page up front; real sizes fill in quickly.
@@ -499,7 +501,8 @@
 			resize.disconnect();
 			observer?.disconnect();
 			for (const num of [...live.keys()]) unrender(num);
-			void pdf?.destroy();
+			// pdf.js 6 has no PDFDocumentProxy.destroy(); calling it threw on every unmount.
+			void closePdf(loadingTask);
 		};
 	});
 </script>
diff --git a/src/lib/books/reader/pdf.test.ts b/src/lib/books/reader/pdf.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..879ad1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/books/reader/pdf.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { closePdf } from './pdf.js';
+
+// A tiny one-page PDF (pdf.js tolerates the missing xref table).
+const PDF =
+	'%PDF-1.4\n1 0 obj<</Type/Catalog/Pages 2 0 R>>endobj\n' +
+	'2 0 obj<</Type/Pages/Kids[3 0 R]/Count 1>>endobj\n' +
+	'3 0 obj<</Type/Page/Parent 2 0 R/MediaBox[0 0 200 300]>>endobj\ntrailer<</Root 1 0 R>>\n%%EOF';
+
+const open = async () => {
+	const pdfjs = await import('pdfjs-dist/legacy/build/pdf.mjs');
+	return pdfjs.getDocument({ data: new TextEncoder().encode(PDF) });
+};
+
+describe('closePdf', () => {
+	it('the document itself has no destroy() in pdf.js 6 (the old teardown threw)', async () => {
+		const task = await open();
+		const doc = await task.promise;
+		expect(doc.numPages).toBe(1);
+		expect((doc as unknown as { destroy?: unknown }).destroy).toBeUndefined();
+		await closePdf(task);
+	});
+
+	it('destroys a loaded document via its loading task, idempotently', async () => {
+		const task = await open();
+		await task.promise;
+		await closePdf(task);
+		expect(task.destroyed).toBe(true);
+		await expect(closePdf(task)).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+	});
+
+	it('can close while still loading, or with nothing open', async () => {
+		const task = await open();
+		task.promise.catch(() => {}); // rejected by the destroy
+		await closePdf(task);
+		expect(task.destroyed).toBe(true);
+		await expect(closePdf(undefined)).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+	});
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/books/reader/pdf.ts b/src/lib/books/reader/pdf.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a7a97e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/books/reader/pdf.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+// pdf.js lifecycle helpers for the reader.
+
+type LoadingTask = { destroyed: boolean; destroy(): Promise<void> };
+
+/**
+ * Closes a PDF opened with pdfjs.getDocument(). pdf.js 6 removed PDFDocumentProxy.destroy();
+ * the loading task owns the document, its network requests and the worker, so tearing it
+ * down works both mid-load and after. Never throws: it runs while the reader unmounts
+ * (e.g. the back button), where an exception would break the navigation.
+ */
+export async function closePdf(task: LoadingTask | null | undefined): Promise<void> {
+	if (!task || task.destroyed) return;
+	try {
+		await task.destroy();
+	} catch {
+		// already torn down
+	}
+}