Books by similar illustrators initially damaged — you can't do much about that (4,2,2,3)

'you can't do much about that' is the definition.
(phrase used to indicate someone has no choice)

'books by similar illustrators initially damaged' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'books' could be 'ot' (Old Testament) and 'ot' is located in the answer.
'similar' could be 'like' (synonyms) and 'like' is located in the answer.
'damaged' could be 'torn' (similar in meaning) and 'torn' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'i' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...