Glossary of terms

Source ABAA.This abbreviated glossary covers only the most commonly encounteredterms. There may be exceptions to some of our definitions - our mainconcern is to provide you with general concepts relative to commonlyused book jargon. Abbreviations appear alphabetized at the beginning ofeach respective letter; only the most common abbreviations are included.

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ABA: Antiquarian Bookseller's Association (U.K. antiquarianbooksellers assoc.); also the American Booksellers Association(primarily independent booksellers offering new books for sale).

ABAA: Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America.

ABAC: Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Canada.

ABPC: American Book Prices Current, an annual compilation of book, autograph & manuscript auction records.

ADS: Autograph document signed ( see also ALS, ANS, LS, TLS).

a.e.g.: All edges gilt, gilt applied to top edge, bottom edge & foreedge of the volume (see also g.t. and a.e. m.).

a.e.m.: All edges marbled, marbling applied to top edge, bottom edge& foreedge of volume (see also a.e.g. and g.t.).

ALAI: Associazionne Librai Antiquari d'Italia (Italian antiquarian booksellers' association).

ALS: Autograph letter signed, letter handwritten by the personsigning the letter as opposed to LS, which is a manuscript letterwritten by someone other than the signer (see also ADS, ANS, LS. TLS).

ANS: Autograph note signed.

ANZAAB: Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers.

Advance copy: a copy of a book usually sent to reviewers prior to publication, may be in a different format and may or may not be bound.

Advance sheets the unbound sheets of a new book, often galleys, distributed prior to publication.

Advertisements: Many books & pamphlets, especially of the19th century contained ads, especially ones advertising others books bythe same publisher,often located at the back of the volume, followingthe text pages.

All published: the book or set is complete as is, and any additional parts or volumes were never published.

BAL: Bibliography of American Literature.

BSA: Bibliographic Society of America.

Binding: the method of holding pages or sheets together; may besimply stapled or sewn, or sewn and enclosed in wrappers, but mostoften refers to a "hard" binding or covers. This type of binding may becovered with cloth, various leathers, or paper over boards or othermore exotic materials. The binding can be done by hand or by machine asin a publisher's "trade binding". The following terms relate primarilyto leather bindings:

Full binding: volume is entirely encased in leather (calf, sheep, morocco, etc.)

Three quarter binding: volume has leather spine and cornerswhich occupy approx. 3/4 of the space along top edge of board (cover).The remainder of the board is covered with marbled paper, plain paper,cloth, different leather, etc.

Half binding: the spine and corner leather occupy only approx. 1/2 of top edge.

Quarter binding: usually lacks leather corners and leather of the spine occupies only approx. 1/4 of the top edge.

Binding copy: a book lacking the original binding or with abinding in poor condition, i.e. a book in need of a new binding - canalso be referred to as a reading copy.

Boards: the covers of a hard bound book; the boards are thestiff cardboard or paperboard which is usually covered with cloth orleather; and when covered with paper, the covers are properly referredto as "boards". Many pre-1850 books were issued by the publishers boundin boards (paper covered), allowing for an inexpensive binding whichcould later be replaced with leather by a hand book binder. Early(medieval) manuscript volumes were often bound between two oak boards,hence the probable origin of this term.

Book club edition: usually an inexpensive reprint utilizing poorquality paper and binding and sold by subscription to members of a bookclub; in general, of little interest to book collectors and of lowmonetary value.

Book jacket: the paper, often with illustrations and informationabout the book and author, used as a protective covering over the book;usually referred to as a "dust jacket" or "dj", sometimes called a"dust wrapper". Dust jacket art work is used to promote and sell thebook.

Book formats: the traditional terms in use for describing bookformats are derived from early printing methodology and the size ofearly handmade sheets of paper. When two leaves (four pages whenprinted on both sides) were printed on a sheet so that it could befolded once, collated with other folded sheets and bound, the format ofthe volume was a "folio". When four leaves (eight pages) were printedon the same size sheet, which would later be folded twice, the formatof the resultant volume was a "quarto" (four leaves). The term "octavo"relates to the sheet having eight leaves printed on it. Today somebooksellers are providing the height of a book in inches or centimetersrather than using these early terms which do not relate directly to thesheet size or process used for printing today. The following is offeredas a guide to convert book formats to approximate book sizes:
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* Folio: more than 13 inches tall
* Quarto (4to): approx. 10 to 13 inches tall, average 12 inches
* Octavo (8vo): approx. 8 to 10 inches tall, average 9 inches
* Duodecimo (12mo): approx. 7 to 8 inches tall, average 7.5 inches
* Sextodecimo (16mo): approx. 6 to 7 inches tall, average 6.5 inches

There are smaller and larger books, i.e. many miniatures are 64mo, andmost hard bound books are either octavo or duodecimo in size.

Book sizes: see Book formats.

Bookworm: any of a number of moth or fly larvae which tunnelthrough the pages of books leaving behind small channels, holes inindividual leaves. Very early books often have some evidence ofbookworm damage.

Broadside: a printing, often an official announcement or poem ormusic, which occurs on a single sheet of paper and only on one side;the verso (other side) is blank. When printed on both sides, the sheetbecomes a "broadsheet".

Broadsheet: a printing which occurs on both sides of a single leaf (see also broadside).

Buckram: a stiff, coarsely woven, filled cloth used for lessexpensive, but stronger wearing, cloth book binding material; oftenused for library books.

Calf: book binding leather from a calf hide or cattle hide; acommonly used material for leather binding (see also morocco, sheep,and vellum).

Cancel leaf: a new leaf, often the title page, to which changeshave been made, which is glued onto the narrow stub left by the removedleaf which has been excised.

Cloth: book binding material woven from cotton, linen, wool or synthetic fibers.

Collation: used in descriptive bibliography as the term whichdescribes the non-binding portion of the book, verifying the propersequence and completeness of pages & their gatherings (signatures).

Colophon: a statement occurring at the rear of a volumefollowing the text, relating information about the printing history andphysical aspects of the book; often includes name of printer, type ofpaper, typeface, size of edition, date of printing, etc. Early booksoften had a colophon instead of a title page imprint and modern privatepress or other examples of fine printing often use a colophon.

Conjugate leaves: leaves which are physically attached, part of the same sheet.

Covers: the binding of a book; i.e. cloth, calf, morocco, boards, wrappers, etc.

Cut edges: the most common type of book edges, trimmed even witha large binders knife prior to finishing the binding process (see alsouncut, unopened, and deckle edges).

DAB: Dictionary of American Biography, a useful 20 volumereference, especially when collecting manuscripts and autographs andattempting to learn about the authors.

DNB: Dictionary of National Biography, multi-volume (number ofvolumes dependent upon the edition) reference of biographies of Britishcitizens (the U.K.).

Dampstain: stain often of a shade of tan or gray resulting fromwater or other liquid damage to a volume; tolerated by collectors whenit is minimal and occurs in very old, scarce volumes; its presence doeslower the monetary value.

Deckle edge: natural or sometimes artificial rough edge of page, left uncut (see also cut edges, uncut, and unopened).

Disbound: descriptive term for a book or pamphlet or ephemera which has been removed from its binding.

Dummy copy: book made to appear like a soon to be published title, but with a text block of blank pages (see also salesman sample).

Duodecimo: (see definition under "Book sizes")

Dust jacket: the paper, often with illustrations and informationabout the book, used as a protective covering over the book; sometimescalled a book jacket (dj) or a dust wrapper (dw). Collectors ofliterary first editions usually insist on having a fine copy of theoriginal dust jacket with the book.

Dust wrapper: (see above definition of dust jacket).

Edition & Printing edition includes the copies of a book orother printed material which originate from the same plates or settingof type. If 500 copies of a book are printed on Oct. 5 and 300 copiesare printed from the same substantially unchanged plates on Dec. 10,all 800 copies are part of the same edition. Printing: the copies of abook or other printed material which originate from the same press runor from the same plates or setting of type at one time. In the examplegiven for "Edition" above, the 500 copies would be the first printingand the 300 copies comprise the second printing. In the 19th centurysome publishers labeled later printings as if they were later editions,i.e. a second printing would be called a "second edition" on thecopyright page.

End paper: paper, often of coated stock or marbled paper orotherwise "fancy" paper, with one half pasted to the cover; usedprimarily to give a finished appearance to the binding.

Ex-library: legitimately removed (discarded/deaccessioned) froman institutional library, such as a public library, university library,historical society, etc. Often has catalog numbers inked or painted onthe spine, library bookplates, embossed or rubber-stampedidentification on the title page and plates, library card pockets andoften shows considerable wear and/or rebinding in a plain buckram.Referred to as "ex-lib" and of considerably lower monetary value thanthe respective book which has never been the property of aninstitutional library.

Ex-libris: a Latin phrase meaning "from the books" or toparaphrase, "from the library or collection of"; the phrase isfrequently used on bookplates.

Extra-illustrated: usually a volume made into a unique copy withadditional illustrations, autographs, or manuscripts added by carefullygluing or tipping-in this extra material.

First Appearances: this term can refer to several different concepts:

* The first time an author appears in print, i.e. Henry D. Thoreau'sfirst appearance in print was as an anonymous obituary in a Concordnewspaper.
* The first time a specific writing of an author appears (in a magazineor newspaper or anthology), Emily Dickinson's poem "I'm nobody Who areyou" appears first in "Life", March 1891.
* The first time a specific subject is treated in book form, i.e. thefirst American book on the subject of dry fly fishing was written byEmlyn Gill and published in 1913.

First Books: the first book appearance by an author (usuallyrefers to a book entirely by the author, not merely a first appearanceof a poem or short story in an anthology). Frequently an established,well known author's first book is not widely known; i.e. James FenimoreCooper's "Precaution".

First Edition: All of the copies printed from the first settingof type; can include multiple printings if all are from the samesetting of type. Every printed book has a first edition, many neverhave later editions. A later edition would have substantial changes inthe printing plates or type such as the addition of a new preface ornew chapter or major changes throughout the text and often is printedfrom a complete resetting of the type. When book collectors use theterm first edition, they are usually referring to the first printingand if there are different states or issues, the earliest of those.

First Edition some related terms:

* Issue: a portion of an edition printed or publisheddeliberately by the printer or publisher in a distinct form differingfrom the rest of the printing relative to paper, binding, format, etc.The distinction between "issue" and "state" is that the former relatesto changes done on purpose by the publisher and intentionally treatedas a separate unit, i.e. a large paper issue.
* State: aportion of a printing with changes such as minor alterations to thetext either intentional or accidental; insertion of cancels,advertisements, or insertions; copies on different paper withoutintention of creating a searate issue; and other changes other thanfolding or collating or binding. An example would be when a pressmandiscovers battered or broken type, stops the presses and resets thatportion of the page by replacing the broken type and then resumes theprinting.
* Variants: usually refers to differences inbindings or end papers ( paper located just inside the front and rearcovers, one half of which is glued to the cover) within an issue orprinting. One variant may have a title stamped on the front cover inblack and another may be stamped in red.

Flyleaf: a blank leaf (or leaves) inserted during the bindingprocess between the free end paper and the beginning or end of theprinted pages.

Foxing: rust colored spots which occur on paper resulting fromoxidation of both organic and iron impurities left behind during thepaper making process. Only when these impurities exist in the paper,given exposure to the right humidity and temperature factors, willfoxing occur. This process is intrinsic to the paper; some paper willnever have the rusty, brown, yellow spots known as foxing.

Folio: see Book size.

Frontispiece: an illustration or plate inserted immediately infront of the title page, with the illustration facing the title page,often abbreviated as frontis.

Full Binding: usually refers to leather binding, see Binding.

g.t.: Gilt top, gilt applied to the top edge of the text block (see also a.e.g.)

Gathering: a folded printed sheet of leaves prior to binding; referred to as a signature after binding.

Gutter: the inner margin of the leaves of a bound book; adjacent inner margins of facing pages when book is open.

Half title: a page which precedes the the title page and the text, with the title (often abbreviated) usually centered on the page.

Hinge: the inside portion of the flexible area where book covermeets the book spine; often used interchangeably with the term joint,which should be used to designate the outside or exterior portion ofthe "hinge". A volume which has received heavy or rough use often hascracked or broken hinges.

Holograph: Anything handwritten entirely by the writer; i.e. aletter written entirely in the handwriting of the correspondent is aholograph of that person.

ILAB: International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, thebookseller organizations of at least twenty-one nations are members ofthe league.

Imprint: when used as a noun refers to the publication datalocated at the base of a title page, usually includes the city ofpublication, name of the publisher (sometimes the printer), and theyear of publication. Sometimes this information is located in acolophon at the back of a book. Imprint can also be used to refer to aprinted piece from a certain location or period of time, i.e. theuniversity has a collection of 18th century Massachusetts imprints.

Incunable: anything printed during the 15th century, the firstcentury of printing with "moveable type"; from the Latin, meaning "fromthe cradle"; can also be used in a relative sense to refer to otherearly printings, i.e. incunables from the Pacific islands.

Inscribed: a book, or other printed piece, with a handwrittenand signed statement usually written for a specific named person(s) andoften located on the end paper or title page; when "inscribed" is usedto describe a book, unless otherwise stated, it is implied that theauthor has written the inscription. When used to designate therecipients of a book as a gift from the author (or publisher), it iscalled a "presentation inscription".

Issue: a portion of an edition printed or published deliberatelyby the printer or publisher in a distinct form differing from the restof the printing relative to paper, binding, format, etc. Thedistinction between "issue" and "state" is that the former relates tochanges done on purpose by the publisher and intentionally treated as aseparate unit, i.e. a large paper issue. ( see also first edition,state, variant).

Joint: the exterior flexible "hinge" where book cover meets bookspine; "hinge" is usually used to designate the equivalent inside orinterior flexible area. The joint is often an area that splits orcracks or otherswise shows wear in an older cloth or leather volume.

LS: Letter signed, a letter written by another, usually asecretary, but signed by the correspondent, as opposed to an ALS whichis written entirely in the hand of the correspondent (see also ADS,ALS, ANS and TLS).

Large paper copy: a special edition printed with the pagesreconfigured to result in larger leaves with very wide page margins;the text of the individual pages remaining the same as the normaledition; usually large paper copies are printed in small, limitededitions.

Leaf (leaves): refers to the smallest, standard physical unit ofpaper in a printed piece; in the case of books and pamphlets, usuallywith a printed page on each side of a leaf; a broadside is printed on asingle side of a single leaf.

Marbled edges: usually the top, bottom and foreedge of a bookwith a multi-colored, swirled design, somewhat resembling thecoloration pattern of marble stone (see also a.e.m.).

Marbled paper: paper decorated with a multi-colored, swirleddesign or pattern; often used for end papers or for paper coveredboards, especially with 3/4 or 1/2 leather bindings.

Morocco: leather binding made from goat hides; usually used inhigh quality or fine bindings for the interesting texture of theleather; originally tanned with sumac in the country of Morocco (seealso calf, sheep and vellum).

NAN: Nederlandsche Vereeniging Van Antiquaren (Netherlands or Dutch antiquarian bookseller's association).

n.d.: This abbreviation means "no date" provided in the imprint.

n.p.: "No place" of publication provided in the imprint.

NUC: National Union Catalogue; when used in antiquarian bookdescriptions usually refers to the pre-1956 imprints NUC which listsLibrary of Congress holdings plus the holdings of all reportinglibraries in the U.S. When a catalog description states "Not in NUC",the item described is usually rare (in terms of U.S. library holdings).

o.p.: Out-of-print.

Octavo: see "Book sizes".

Out-of-print: no longer available from the publisher (o.p. or op).

Plate: an illustration(s) printed on a separate sheet of paper(usually heavy and better quality than the text pages) and added to thebook during the binding process.

Pre-publication price: When a new title is first offered forsale, often this special lower price is promoted and available for alimited time before publication.

Presentation copy: a copy of a printed item inscribed and signed by the author (or publisher) and provided as a gift; see "inscribed".

Printing: the copies of a book or other printed material whichoriginate from the same press run or from the same plates or setting oftype at one time. In the example given for "Edition", the 500 copieswould be the first printing and the 300 copies comprise the secondprinting. In the 19th century some publishers labeled later printingsas if they were later editions, i.e. a second printing would be calleda "second edition" on the copyright page. (see also edition).

Prospectus: printed material, often in the form of a leaflet orbroadside, which describes a forth-coming title in detail, oftenincluding information on ordering the book including pre-publicationprice.

Quarto: see "Book formats".

Reading copy: well worn, usually abused copy of a book, often inneed of rebinding; i.e. suitable for reading, but unlikely to beincluded in a book collection unless rebound; sometimes refers to acopy that can be read, but is not of a quality worth rebinding.

Rebacked: the spine or backstrip has been replaced with newmaterial, in some cases the original worn backstrip is saved and gluedover the new material.

Rebound: copy of a book which has had the original bindingremoved and a new binding attached; when there is no need to resew ortrim the book, the term "recased" is sometimes used to indicate that anew binding and new end papers have been added.

Recto: the front side of a leaf or in the case of an open book the page on the right, with the page on the left being the verso.

SA: Svenska Antivariatforeningen (Swedish antiquarian booksellers' association).

SLAM: Syndicat National de la Librarie Ancienne et Moderne (French booksellers' association).

Salesman sample: volume made for door-to-door sales of aforth-coming title, usually has examples of several binding styles, thetitle page, a few pages of text and some illustrations (if any) andoften a few ruled leaves bound in the back to be used to record thesales transaction including the name and address of those ordering thebook.

Self-wrappers: the wrappers of a pamphlet consist of the firstleaf of the first signature and the final leaf of the last signature;i.e. no special or distinct paper wrappers have been added; oftengovernment pamphlets and almanacs have self-wrappers.

Sewn-as-issued: a pamphlet which has been sewn together andexists in its original state relative to binding; normally a pamphletwith self-wrappers.

Shaken: indicates that sections (signatures) of a book or pamphlet are becoming quite loose, but remain attached to the binding.

Sheep: a common leather binding material from sheep hides; usedlike calf for a less expensive binding than morocco, appears to havebeen frequently used for text books and law books in the 19th century(see also calf, morocco, and vellum).

Shelfback: another term for spine or backstrip.

Signature: a group or gathering of leaves printed together on asheet of paper which is folded, bound with other signatures and trimmedto form a book or pamphlet; i.e. a section or grouping of pages in abook resulting from printing and binding methodology; also refers to aperson's self handwritten name (autograph signature).

Signed: refers to a printed item on which the author (orillustrator or publisher) has written their name, usually on the endpapers, title page, or in the case of pamphlets on the wrappers.

Slipcase: a box with one open side, into which a volume or amultivolme set is "slipped" for protection; publishers often issue aslipcase with two and three volume sets.

Solander case: a box in which a book is stored for protectionwhich has one end (often leather) which resembles the spine orbackstrip of a book.

Spine: the back portion of a book's binding which is visiblewhen a book is shelved in a bookcase; the portion which is attached atthe joints to the front and rear covers.

Started: indicates that one or more signatures of a book areprotruding beyond the rest of the fore edge, i.e. beginning to pullaway from the binding to which they are still attached; not as loosenedas the term "shaken" indicates.

State: a portion of a printing with changes such as minoralterations to the text either intentional or accidental; insertion ofcancels, advertisements, or insertions; copies on different paperwithout intention of creating a searate issue; and other changes otherthan folding or collating or binding. An example would be when apressman discovers battered or broken type, stops the presses andresets that portion of the page by replacing the broken type and thenresumes the printing. (see also first edition, cancel, issue, andvariant).

t.e.g.: top edge gilt.

TLS: typed letter signed, as opposed to ALS, a handwritten letter signed by the writer (see also ADS, ALS, ANS and LS).

Three quarter binding: see "Binding".

Unbound: indicates that the item has never been bound, i.e.unbound sheets; not the same as disbound which indicates that thebinding has been removed.

Uncut: refers to the edges of a book in an untrimmed state, edges are somewhat uneven, also see "Deckle edges".

Unopened: a book with signatures which have never been cut asopposed to untrimmed and uneven (see "Uncut"); unopened books retainthe folds of the original gathering and contain many pages which cannotbe read without first opening the pages with a knife. Some collectorsprefer an unopened book because it indicates that the book has neverbeen read; other collectors who read their books would rather not havethe task of cutting open pages and risking tears and jagged leaf edges.

VDAV: Verband Deutscher Antiquare e. V. (German antiquarian booksellers's association).

Variants: usually refers to differences in bindings or endpapers ( paper located just inside the front and rear covers, one halfof which is glued to the cover) within an issue or printing. Onevariant may have a title stamped on the front cover in black andanother may be stamped in red. (see also first edition, issue, andstate).

Vellum: true vellum is a thin specially treated untanned"leather" from calf skin, also known as parchment (high qualityparchment from calf skin is called vellum; general quality parchment ismade from calf, goat or sheep skin) ; used for documents and for bookbindings; many early books (of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries)have vellum bindings; paper makers have produced parchment and/orvellum papers also used for book bindings.

Verso: the reverse or opposite or left-hand side, especiallyused in reference to a leaf which has a recto and verso side; in a openbook the recto is the right hand page and the verso is the left handpage; in the case of a broadside only the recto is printed and theverso is blank.

w.a.f: with all faults, indicates a book or other item which isbeing offered without careful delineation of its condition or withoutcareful collation; usually indicates a less than "very good" copy,which probably does has faults, often including excessive wear ormissing leaves, plates or maps.

Wrappers: abbreviated as "wraps", wrappers are the paper coversof a pamphlet, often of a paper of heavier weight than the text paper;when you see "wrappers" you know the item is not a hard bound book, butis instead a pamphlet or magazine with paper covers; usually not usedto refer to 20th century paperback books which are called "soft bound"(with paper covers).

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