Librariana Book Description Guide

 I.      Size

During the hand press period, full sheets of paper were manufactured in a great variety of sizes which were given a number of names, such as pot, demy, foolscap, crown, etc. These were not standardized and the actual sizes varied depending on the country of manufacture and date.

A book’s format refers to the shape and dimensions of the physical book.  When browsing bookseller catalogs and listings on the Internet, the terms and abbreviations used to describe book sizes (8vo, 12mo, folio, quarto, etc.) can seem confusing at first, but this page will help define a super octavo from a royal octavo.

Essentially these terms are simply an explanation of the book’s evolution from single sheets of paper into a completed book with printed pages. Each term defines how many times the initial piece of paper was folded to become pages.  Using this terminology, the term ‘Folio’ would tell us that the original sheet of paper was folded once, resulting in two leaves.  Therefore a book described as ‘Quarto’ would have its original sheet folded twice and would have four leaves - each leaf being one-quarter or one fourth the original size.

Armed with this knowledge, you can determine the approximate size of any book based on the publishing format.  Please note - the size is only an approximation because not every sheet of paper is exactly the same size. However these terms provide an essential guideline.

To make life even simpler, remember ‘Folio’ is a large upright-shaped book and an ‘Octavo’ is a small upright-shaped book, while a ‘Quarto’ is in-between the two and mostly square-shaped.  

The size and proportions of a book will thus depend on the size of the original sheet of paper used in producing the book. For example, if a sheet 19 inches by 25 inches is used to print a quarto, the resulting book will be approximately 12.5 inches tall and 9.5 inches wide, before trimming.

Because the size of paper used has differed over the years and localities, the sizes of books of the same format will also differ.  A typical octavo printed in Italy or France in the 16th Century thus is roughly the size of a modern mass market paperback book, but an English 18th-century octavo is noticeably larger, more like a modern trade paperback or hardcover novel.

 

II.      CONDITION

Booksellers describe the condition of their books according to conventions set forth by the book selling community and standardized for consistency.  Here are the common bookseller description terms and what they mean:

• As New is self-explanatory. It means that the book is in the state that it should have been in when it left the publisher. This is the equivalent of Mint condition in numismatics

• Fine (F or FN) is As New but allowing for the normal effects of time on an unused book that has been protected. A fine book shows no damage.

• Very Good (VG) describes a book that is worn but untorn. For many collectors this is the minimum acceptable condition for all but the rarest items. Any defects must be noted.

• Good (G) describes the condition of an average used worn book that is complete. Any defects must be noted

• Fair shows wear and tear but all the text pages and illustrations or maps are present. It may lack endpapers, half-title, and even the title page. All defects must be noted.

• Poor describes a book that has the complete text but is so damaged that it is only of interest to a buyer who seeks a reading copy. If the damage renders the text illegible then the book is not even poor.

• Ex-library or Ex Libris copies must always be designated as such no matter what the condition of the book.

• Book Club copies must always be designated as such no matter what the condition of the book.

• Binding Copy describes a book in which the pages or leaves are perfect, but the binding is very bad, loose, off or non-existent.

 

Additional Important Descriptors Include:

• Bowed - A condition of the covers or boards of a hard cover book. Bowed covers may turn inward toward the leaves or outward away from the leaves. The condition generally results from a rapid change in the level of moisture in the air and is caused by different rates of expansion or contraction of the paste-down and the outer material covering the board.

• Chipped - Used to describe where small pieces are missing from the edges of the boards or where fraying has occurred on a dust jacket or the edge of a paperback.

• Dampstained - A light stain on the cover or on the leaves of a book caused by moisture such as a piece of food or perspiration. Generally not as severe as waterstains.

• Darkening or Fading - When book covers are exposed to light, the color darkens or becomes more intense. See also tape shadow.

• Edgeworn - Wear along the edges of hardback book covers.

• Ex-library – the book was once owned by, and circulated in, a public library.  This book could well be in any of the above general categories but more often than not has been well used.  May have library stickers, stamps, or markings.  Any former library book must be marked ex-library.

• Foxed / Foxing- Brown spotting of the paper caused by a chemical reaction, generally found in 19th century books, particularly in steel engravings of the period.

• Loose - The binding of a new book is very tight; that is, the book will not open easily and generally does not want to remain open to any given page. As the book is used, the binding becomes looser until a well-used book may lay flat and remain open to any page in the book.      

• Made-up Copy - A copy of a book whose parts have been assembled from one or more defective copies.

• Price Clipped - The price has been clipped from the corner of the dust jacket.

• Re-backed - A book that has been repaired by replacing the spine and mending the hinges.  Re-cased - A book that has been glued back into its covers after having been shaken loose.

• Re-jointed - Means the book has been repaired preserving the original covers, including the spine.

• Shaken - An adjective describing a book whose pages are beginning to come loose from the binding.

• Shelf Wear - The wear that occurs as a book is placed onto and removed from a shelf. It may be to the tail (bottom) edge of the covers as they rub against the shelf, to the dust jacket or exterior of the covers (when no dust jacket is present) as the book rubs against its neighbors, or to the head of the spine which some use to pull the book from the shelf.

• Sunned - Faded from exposure to light or direct sunlight.

• Tight - The binding of a new book is very tight; that is, the book will not open easily and generally does not want to remain open to any given page. As the book is used, the binding becomes looser until a well-used book may lay flat and remain open to any page in the book.

• Trimmed - An adjective indicating that the pages have been cut down to a size smaller than when originally issued.

• Unopened - The leaves of the book are still joined at the folds, not slit apart.

• Working copy – Even more damaged than a reading copy, the working copy will have multiple defects and may even need repair.

• Worming, Wormholes - Small holes resulting from bookworms (the larvae of various beetles.)

 

Please note:  The content of this blog post is not original work, but a compilation of information available on the internet from sites including Wikipedia.  Please do not reference, repost or republish this document as original work from Librariana.  It is provided here as a reference for visitors to our site, providing definitions of key descriptors used in the reporting of condition of books and ephemera.  Thank you!