Book Collecting: Condition and Value

Full disclosure: I started reading for pleasure in my 20s, although I had read some climbing books as a teenager. To this day paperbacks annoy me because their type is small and they don't open properly for reading. And I hate reading an old soiled hardcover book that used to belong to a public library in Leeds or Hackensack while I am in my bed with clean sheets right after I have taken a shower.

Buying and Collecting Mountaineering Books has some ''rules'' about the condition of a book and it's value. These rules can be described in a simple phrase, ''Always buy the best copy you can afford.'' However, this rule only matters if you plan to someday sell your books and you want to get out of them what you paid for them, or even more. If you don't want to get into the game of making money from your book hobby, ignore everything I say here.

If you like books on Mountaineering it is probably because reading stories of people climbing brings you pleasure. Or if you are a rock climber you may like to collect earlier guidebooks for the areas you have climbed in, are about to climb in, or wish you had. If reading and having these books is enough, not their monetary value, skip this section and search the word ''paperback'' on this website. You will find a lot of great reading at very low prices!

Here are the rules and definitions that book collectors and booksellers use to define the condition of books. Book are like people, they start our shiny and new, and deteriorate in appearance as the years go by. If the book is a good one, like a person, the contents may actually appear to improve as it gets older.

Q. What to the words and abbreviations Fine, Very Good, Good, DJ, Ex Lib, FEP, Remainder Mark, mean?

A. Booksellers have come up with a standard set of words to described the CONDITION of used books as they suffer the indignities of ageing. As we sell both New and Used books, we usually say 'New' for new books, but if we do not say anything, and the book was published within the last 20 years, you can presume the book is New, not used. Also, all books on our website are hardcovers and in English unless stated otherwise (such as paperback, pamphlet, etc.) If the book has a dust jacket we always say so.

Once a book as been owned, read and then sold, it often starts showing its age, and its condition has a great effect on its value. Many books are desired by both readers and collectors, so if collectors have driven up the price of Fine copies, a lesser condition copy may be a good choice for a reader, or a recent paperback reprint may be available.

TERMS DESCRIBING BOOK CONDITION AND FEATURES

New or As New, or Very Fine - A brand new, unused, unread book in fresh condition. As New may be an older but still new looking book. If we do not specify a condition, it is usually a New book. Half our books are New Books, half are used. We actually have new books that we bought 20 years ago and have not yet sold.

Fine - A used book with no significant flaws, but not as fresh as a New book. We still have many books that we bought new from the 1980s, 1990s to 2000s in stock, and still call them New, or Fine if they have been rubbed against other books. Near Fine means real nice but not perfect.

Very Good or VG - A nice used book with minor flaws. The cover may have a broken spine, the cover has edge or shelf wear, the corners may be bumped, it may have a torn, chipped or price clipped dust jacket. It may have a previous owner's name or bookplate in the book. Most used books are Very Good or Fine.

Good - Good really means Not Good. A not so nice used book, with more wear or appearance problems than a VG book. It may have extensive wear, the DJ may have pieces missing, or display other flaws such as water stains.

Acceptable - This is a term that has no meaning to traditional booksellers. It appears mostly on Amazon listings. Having bought some described that way, my definition for acceptable is 'Watch out.'' Most Amazon and Ebay sellers will not describe condition if you email them.

Poor condition books have their flaws described. Ugly.

*UNPC: I saw these initials on another bookseller's website, and I could not figure out what it meant. So I emailed him and he replied, ''UN-Price Clipped'. I told him I thought it stood for the Uganda National Pipeline Company. That's what Wikipedia brings up.

Signed or Inscribed - Since literacy became universal in England and America over 150 years ago, it became fairly common for authors to sign their books when people ask them to. Also, climbers who write books usually know and meet other climbers, so a book may have a few short words written by the author, perhaps even presenting the copy to a friend. These signatures and inscriptions may add value, and always add pleasure to owners of the book.

Books have always been useful gifts, most often wives to husbands, or parents to children, and at Christmas or birthdays. These third person signatures and inscriptions may decrease the value. People often ask me if they should ask Chris Bonington to inscribe their copy of his book to them. I reply, ''Only if you can climb as well as he can.'' The phrase ''Flat signed'' means it is signed with no inscription.

    Ex Lib and RSM. Ex Lib means a book with library marks on the spine or jacket, and sometimes a pocket, labels or rubber stamp marks (RSM) inside from a library. Some library books may still be in Fine condition, while some are rebound or trashed, which are described.

   FEP - REP Front (rear) end paper, the blank pages at the front and rear of a book. Often these get written on by the author or previous owners of a used book.

   TEG and AEG: Top or all edges gilded (or gilt.) This adds class to a book, and makes them easier to dust.

   Dust Jacket or DJ - Most hardcover books since 1920 have dust jackets, which are paper covers designed to help sell the book. On many books they have helped preserve the condition of the book as well. Many collectors prize Fine Dust Jackets, and as it was once common to discard them, the value of the DJ can exceed that of the book. A Chipped DJ has small edge pieces missing, a torn DJ has closed tears that may be invisible under a clear book jacket cover. If we describe a book as DJ, Fine, it is understood that the book is a hardcover. Some paperbacks have DJs, usually from France, where they are also called Wrappers. Some hardcover books have pictorial covers, with a color photo on the book itself, and no DJ came with the book. Wikipedia has a good essay on Dust Jackets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_jacket

Pictorial Cover: Some books have the artwork that might appear on a paper dust jacket, but instead it is actually printed on the book cover itself. This feature has been around for many decades, but in this decade (2020s) we have noticed more hardcover books published with a pictorial cover and no dust jacket.

Cloth binding or covers: Hardcover books used to be covered with fabric to enhance their appearance. Some books have covers using a very stiff layered paper when they are, in fact, bound in plastic or paper-covered stiff boards that are designed to resemble cloth.

Slipcase: A slipcase is a box for the book with one side left open. It is usually made of high-quality cardboard, into which books or book sets are slipped for protection, leaving the spine exposed. They are very effective in protecting books. Other than a few books that were issued with a slipcase, today most slipcases and book boxes are custom made by a bookbinder, or a specialist who makes only slipcases and boxes for really valuable or fragile books. A google search for Book Slipcase Makers will find some of those specialists. In high end book collecting, like first editions of great fiction by a famous author, a book seller may have slipcases made for many titles, even new books, to keep them ''New'' forever. We have multiple copies a book by an author named Yoda who created a pictorial book on the first ascent of Manaslu in 1956. The book is not particularly fragile, but as all copies came with a slipcase we have never seen a copy that was less than ''New'' condition. Never seen a dirty, grubby or worn copy. Yoda's Manaslu is our item number OP1251 on this website. [Neate Y08]. Manaslu is the tenth highest mountain in the world.

Remainder mark - A small felt pen mark on the bottom edge of the pages. Publishers use remainder marks to prevent book returns. Some of our Sale books have remainder marks. They may be made with dark marker, or a yellow highlighter and be almost invisible. Nice publishers will just make a dot.

RSM - Rubber stamp mark. This is usually a name and/or address stamp from a former owner of the book, or from a library that once owned the book. This is usually found on the FEP, or inside the covers. Common now, but we have seen them on Smythe and Shipton books from the 1930s.

Tipped In: This refers to an additional item, often called ephemera, pasted into the book. It is often a card with the author's signature, or a letter or newspaper clipping, that is not physically part of the book, but is included, usually by being glued onto one of the Blank Front Endpapers. But is could be a newspaper clipping, a lecture ticket, a Menu, or anything made of paper that relates to the book's subject or author.

Grangerize: To illustrate a book with material such as images taken from other published sources, such as by clipping them out for one's own use.

Leather Binding: Many older books and a few modern have a cover that is covered in leather. Often the spine has the title and author written in Gold Leaf. The cover may be kept in cloth, pr a plain board, decorated with Marbled boards, or with nature, people or animals doing something such as climbing the mountain mentioned in the book.

Vellum Binding: White leather prepared in an ancient method, Here is what was said about books in 1519 by William Horman, Eton's headmaster: ''That stouffe that we wrytte upon, and is made of beestis skynnes, is somtyme called parchement, somtyme velem, somtyme abortyve, somtyme membraan.''

Quarter Leather Binding, See below: Leather on the spine with Gold Letters and Marbled Boards (Cover)

Half Leather Binding, See below: Leather on the spine and corners, Gold Spine Letters and Decoration, Raised Bands, Marbled Boards (Covers)

Pictorial Cover - See below: A Photo is printed on the cover, there is no dust jacket for this book.

Marbled Endpapers - With an old bookplate

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Q. What do the terms Front (Rear) End Paper etc mean?

A. The first and last blank pages in a book. Here are all the terms:

Please note that, to differentiate them from soft-covers and paperbacks, modern hardbacks are still invariably described as being �cloth� when they are, in fact, predominantly bound in plastic or paper-covered stiff boards and designed to resemble cloth.