{"id":2502,"date":"2015-06-06T22:29:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T05:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=2502"},"modified":"2016-10-12T21:30:04","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T04:30:04","slug":"book-buying-101-what-does-good-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=2502","title":{"rendered":"Book-buying 101: What does \u2018good\u2019 mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"md16569633585\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I sell books both online (www.abebooks.com\/servlet\/SearchResults?sortby=0&vci=51238921<\/a>) and in our brick and mortar bookstore, inside the Charleston Antique Mall in Las Vegas.<\/a><\/p>\n

For the seller, selling Online is a much better deal — which is why I reluctantly predict the free-standing \u201cused and collectible\u201d bookstore will be a thing of the past in about another decade, outside a few large cities, a few pleasant rural communities that draw seasonal tourists in the specific hunt for \u201cantiques,\u201d and the mega-campus towns (Berkeley and Cambridge, Boulder and Chicago -\u2013 along with Bologna and Paris and Oxford and that other Cambridge, I presume.)<\/p>\n

But -\u2013 aside from brand new titles — this shift creates considerable hardships, hazards, and a general decrease in the quality of the experience for book buyers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bookselling through a store no longer \u201cpencils out.\u201d The overhead to keep the place open, lighted, heated or air conditioned -\u2013 not to mention insurance, utilities, and keeping all your local municipal \u201cinspectors\u201d happy -\u2013 is absurd, given the glacial \u201cvelocity\u201d at which the stock moves. Any bookseller can tell you it takes literally years<\/em> to sell most books.<\/p>\n

And all that time you have to either watch your stock like a hawk -\u2013 while trying to man the cash register -\u2013 eight hours or more a day, six days or more a week \u2013- or pay someone else to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployees\u201d? In these days of the economy-crippling benefits mandate, practice hiccuping the word the way Maynard G. Krebs used to say \u201cWork?\u201d<\/p>\n

Since they haven\u2019t a clue how to handle a fragile old book or document, the browsers gradually cut the value of your stock in half simply by dropping it on the floor, shoving it back on the shelf with the dust jackets wadded up like packing material, or chipping fragile wraps and jackets of books they have no intention of buying, simply by sliding them in and out of your plastic bags and wrappers. (This goes triple for comic books.)<\/p>\n

Back when you could regularly count on selling $50 books -\u2013 and occasional $300 books — to collectors, this \u201cboutique model\u201d was at least a \u201cbreak-even\u201d hobby, with a profitable month or two at Christmas-time.<\/p>\n

But unless your store sits directly on some major tourist artery, today you\u2019ll be stuck trying to sell to a cross-section of those who live within 10 or 20 miles, at most (in urban areas, make that five to seven miles.) By and large, these browsers see little reason to spend more than $12 for a book -\u2013 assuming they ever read anything but romance paperbacks, anyway. In fact, believing they\u2019re in a \u201cthrift shop,\u201d they consider $4 far more reasonable, shaking their heads and re-shelving anything priced much higher. If they can read the same words in a battered paperback, or download them for a few dollars Online, why pay more?<\/p>\n

Actually, there\u2019s an answer to that. In 1979 Ray Bradbury discovered his publisher, Ballantine Books, was circulating supposedly \u201cunexpurgated\u201d copies of his 1953 book-burning science-fiction novel \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d in which they had censored the words “hell”, “damn”, and “abortion”; modified 75 passages, and changed two episodes, turning a drunk into a “sick man” in one, while cleaning fluff out of a human navel became “cleaning ears” in the other. In fact, by 1973 Ballantine was publishing only<\/em> the censored version.<\/p>\n

But in today\u2019s cyber-world, are the values assigned \u201ctrue first printings\u201d a speculative bubble? Do collectors run the risk that someday the bottom may fall out, as it\u2019s largely done with stamp collecting? Yes. If gazing upon and occasionally pulling down and reading a book from such a collection — a book that may have been handled by the author himself — makes you happy, who cares? But should we assume \u201cThese things are guaranteed to appreciate\u201d?<\/p>\n

Shakespeare First Folios and presentation copies signed by Charles Dickens: probably. First editions of one of Stephenie Meyer\u2019s vampire romances? Not so much. Frankly, I think the artifacts of the Post-War Baby Boom -\u2013 Beatles and Grateful Dead albums and 1966 Marvel comic books and \u201cFear and Loathing in Las Vegas\u201d -\u2013 have peaked. Over the next decade, all those hoarded treasures will come back on the market, hunting for a dwindling number of collectors to whom they have any nostalgia value. Prices for the rarest pieces in the finest, museum-quality condition may hold up. The rest won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Already, in this Age of the Kindle and the Internet, the \u201cthrift-shop pricing\u201d expected by too many browsers leaves no room for enough markup to keep open the doors of most brick-and-mortar used bookstores. The market speaks, and what the customers have decreed is that eventually their only source of books (other than the Internet) will be thrift stores and yard sales, where searching for anything in particular can be virtually hopeless.<\/p>\n

As sales volume falls, in desperation the bookseller starts to do markdowns — which means laboriously re-pricing each and every single book, with a pencil, as if these were the 1850s.<\/p>\n

You wonder why the only used book store left in town will no longer buy your hardcover castoffs? Customer pressure is turning them into \u201cpaperback exchanges\u201d — the last step before the \u201cFor Lease\u201d sign goes up.<\/p>\n

CYBER-HAZARDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now compare selling online. No one touches, damages, or steals your stock. Periodic markdowns can be accomplished with a few keystrokes. No one has to \u201cman the cash register\u201d -\u2013 books can literally sell while you\u2019re asleep or eating dinner. And to whom? That\u2019s the best part: Buyers from Alaska to Florida to Berlin to Barcelona -\u2013 people who may have been looking for your specific book for years, but who would never<\/em> be likely to walk in your door — can spot your offering within minutes after you post it Online. They order by credit card; their cards either clear or they don\u2019t; if they don\u2019t the book pops right back up online for the next customer.<\/p>\n

But as I said, this Brave New Cyberworld presents the buyer<\/em> with some problems.<\/p>\n

First, in a bookstore or old-fashioned library (the kind with stacks, instead of people waiting in line to use borrowed computers), while looking for one book you could find a half-dozen others, sitting on the same shelf, that you never knew existed. That\u2019s far less likely to happen Online.<\/p>\n

But now add the fact that many Online \u201cbulk sellers\u201d let some computerized scanner \u201cdescribe\u201d their books, so that every jacketless 1970 book-club edition of \u201cThe Great Gatsby\u201d gets listed as \u201cScribner\u2019s 1925,\u201d and every battered paperback copy of \u201cFrankenstein\u201d gets listed as \u201cpublished 1818.\u201d Many a novice buyer, unaware that they can and should return such mis-labeled crap for a full refund (plus return postage) doesn\u2019t bother; he or she just sighs and gives up.<\/p>\n

\"md4362518618\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(A few recurrent examples: A \u201cConstable 1992\u201d edition of R.D. Wingfield\u2019s \u201cInspector Jack Frost\u201d mystery \u201cNight Frost\u201d can be a valuable book. But the bulk sellers in the U.K., while allowing their computers to list the book that way, will usually send you a \u201cBook Club Associates\u201d reprint in a totally different “TV-tie-in” jacket, worth less than 20 bucks at best — a book for which the reprint publisher apparently failed to obtain a new and separate scannable \u201cInternational Standard Book Number.\u201d And while a 1938 edition of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d in dust jacket, in fine condition, could probably buy you a new car, the books so listed by the British bulk sellers are almost always brand new reprints. They\u2019ve merely allowed their mis-programmed computers to enter the original copyright<\/em> date under \u201cdate of publication\u201d — despite the fact the book in question probably has an obvious post-1970 scannable bar code on the back! Just now I’m looking at an Online listing for a copy of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” listed as “published 1816” and offered at the suspiciously low price at $13 — though sellers have been known to price such offerings much higher, believe me! A closer look reveals this “1816” edition was published by Pantheon. Yet the current owners of Pantheon inform us “Pantheon\u2019s founder, Kurt Wolff, was born in Germany in 1887. He emigrated to the United States in 1941 and began publishing major works in translation.” So chances that Mr. Wolff actually published this particular copy in 1816 appear rather slim. Watch for phrases like \u201cmay have underlining\u201d or \u201cmay be ex-library.\u201d No human being has examined such volumes.)<\/p>\n

But most shockingly — well, I was shocked — buyers now forced to shop online don\u2019t seem to have the slightest idea how to interpret a bookseller\u2019s (even an honest and competent bookseller’s) description of his or her wares.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to tell you how to identify a first printing. It\u2019s complicated, since every publisher is different. The book you want is Zempel & Verkler\u2019s \u201cFirst Editions: A Guide to Identification.\u201d Out-of-date copies of this guide (better than nothing) can be found for $15. A post-2000 Fourth Edition will run you $75 to $100. It won\u2019t answer every question, but you need it if you\u2019re serious about buying or selling collectible books.<\/p>\n

Unless you\u2019re familiar with a seller or his or her credentials, don\u2019t believe his or her \u201cfirst edition\u201d is a first printing unless he tells you how he knows, or unless you know for sure there were no second printings or book club editions from that publisher in that year. (Even then, many sellers will get the date and even the publisher wrong, because they don\u2019t even look, allowing our friend the badly programmed robot to \u201cfill in the blanks.\u201d I\u2019ve even had them advertise hardcover first editions and send me paperback<\/em> reprints.) Look for something specific and non-generic, like \u201cFirst printing stated; number line complete 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Second or third — or 18th — printings can be worth less than half as much. Sometimes, way less. No problem if you want a reading copy. But if the price from a clueless seller isn\u2019t much different, why not buy a collectible book that\u2019s more likely to hold its value?<\/p>\n

LEARN THE SEVEN GRADES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacketless books that originally came with jackets can be worth less than half -\u2013 sometimes nothing at all. Ex-library copies are generally worthless unless they\u2019re copies of books that otherwise cost more than $200, in which case they might<\/em> be worth 10 or 20 percent. (If the dust jacket is well preserved under a Mylar protector, that\u2019s where most of the value is likely to lie.) Book club editions are generally worthless, though (again) a book club edition of a book that otherwise can\u2019t be found for under $200 might<\/em> be worth 20 percent.<\/p>\n

Online sellers offering truly rare books for less than $100 in perfect condition may not be lying, exactly \u2013- it\u2019s far more likely they\u2019re peddling a modern facsimile reprint, from Easton Press or the \u201cFirst Edition Library\u201d in Shelton, Connecticut. Although they always claim ignorance, you wonder why they weren\u2019t asking $3,000.<\/p>\n

But what surprises me most is that many buyers don\u2019t seem to understand basic grading for condition.<\/em> Because I try to price at about two-thirds of market — and then do regular markdowns — my copies are often the cheapest among comparable books online, so several times a year I\u2019ll hear from someone wanting to buy one of my comparatively low-priced books \u2013- say, an early, illustrated U.S. edition of a Jules Verne classic — graded \u201cgood only,\u201d as a gift.<\/p>\n

I try to avoid the phrase \u201cAre you nuts?\u201d Instead, I start by asking if they know what \u201cgood\u201d means.<\/p>\n

Here, briefly, a slightly iconoclastic guide to the seven standard grades most often used by competent sellers in describing a used book. (Others may quibble with my definitions, as they please. It\u2019s what makes the world go ’round. Comments welcome.)<\/p>\n

Please note that books and their paper jackets (when present) are generally graded separately,<\/em> and the jacket is often (usually) worth more than the book. Thus, a book graded VG\/G is a \u201cvery good\u201d book in a \u201cgood\u201d jacket -\u2013 very common. The grade G\/F, on the other hand, should set off alarm bells. How can a book have been battered down to \u201cgood\u201d condition,\u201d while wearing around its exterior a \u201cfine\u201d dust jacket? The most common answers are a) it\u2019s a battered, ex-library book, but the jacket was protected in a mylar protector, or b) we (the sellers) have wrapped this old book in a lovely new photocopied facsimile<\/em> jacket, which is essentially worthless.<\/p>\n

The seven grades:<\/p>\n

AS NEW UNREAD<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not \u201cnew,\u201d because you\u2019re not Barnes & Noble. An inconspicuous PON (Previous Owner\u2019s Name) written to the free front endpaper (first blank page) may even be acceptable, as long as it\u2019s mentioned. But this book, as should be obvious from the description, has not been read. It\u2019s about perfect, and when you try to open the boards (the covers of a hardbound book) you meet resistance before you get them to 90 degrees. (Please don\u2019t force them — or your book will no longer be \u201cas new unread.\u201d) An unread paperback will show no<\/em> reading creases along or near the spine. It will appear glossy and new -\u2013 even if it\u2019s 70 years old. Handle it carefully when looking inside for the publisher\u2019s information, or it won\u2019t be \u201cunread\u201d for long.<\/p>\n

FINE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFine\u201d is the highest grade most sellers will assign. The book may have been carefully read, but it has no visible flaws, such as stains or underlining. (A price-clipped dust jacket may be acceptable, along with the aforementioned PON, but they have to be mentioned.) Lay such a book on your desk or table, hold the book three-quarters of the way open with one hand, then take your hand away. A \u201cfine\u201d book should slam its own text block and boards<\/em> closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cVERY FINE\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beats me. Presumably this means \u201c’Fine,\u2019 but we\u2019re charging an extra 50 percent because we wear neckties and tweed jackets with nifty suede elbow patches.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEAR FINE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Between \u201cfine\u201d and \u201cvery good.\u201d It\u2019s common (and perfectly legitimate) to find a book described as \u201cfine in a near-fine jacket\u201d That generally means the jacket has some light rumpling to top and bottom of spine, but no tears.<\/p>\n

VERY GOOD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Place the book on your desk or table, hold the book three-quarters of the way open with one hand, then take your hand away. Whereas a \u201cfine\u201d book should slam its own text block and boards<\/em> closed, the \u201cvery good\u201d book will close its own text block but not<\/em> its boards, which will remain lying open. Why? The binding has loosened a bit, through use. (Large, heavy quartos — coffee table books — may be an exception. They may not have been able to close their heavy text blocks even when new.) A \u201cvery good\u201d book can have some minor bangs or visible edge rubbing. A \u201cvery good\u201d dust jacket can have one or two small<\/em> closed tears. (The terms really means \u201cclose-able tears\u201d \u2013 in other words, not<\/em> a tear with triangular chunk missing; that\u2019s a \u201cchip,\u201d which reduces a dust jacket to \u201cgood.\u201d) Some white may be showing (from rub) to corners of the boards and\/or the jacket. \u201cVery good\u201d books are closer to \u201cfine\u201d than they are to \u201cgood.\u201d It\u2019s easy to find \u201cvery good\u201d books that are less than 70 years old, harder (but by no means impossible) to find them from before World War Two. But beware sellers who claim a book is (whatever grade) \u201cconsidering its age.\u201d Grades do not change with age. The fact that a \u201cfine\u201d book from 1830 is hard to find does not<\/em> mean it\u2019s legitimate to call a \u201cgood\u201d book from 1830 \u201cfine, considering its age.\u201d It\u2019s still \u201cgood,\u201d or (to add emphasis) \u201cgood only.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"md12550547360\"<\/a><\/p>\n

GOOD<\/strong><\/p>\n

In practice, the gap between “good” and “very good” is probably the widest on this scale. \u201cGood\u201d books, as the old saying goes, \u201caren\u2019t very good.\u201d They\u2019re complete and legible, not full of nasty mildew or massively chewed by rodents or bugs. Other than that, don\u2019t expect such a book to win any beauty contests. If what you get is merely a \u201cPlain Jane,\u201d you\u2019re doing well. These are \u201creading copies,\u201d not collectible copies — not suitable as gifts except to a knowledgeable collector who you know has been unable to find any better copy of a sought-after book. Garage-sale books are typically “good.” Opened to any given page, they just lie there, looking tired. A “good” paperback is likely to be well-read. Flaws should be detailed, but beware understatement -\u2013 especially if the seller offers no scans or photos. \u201cBoards rubbed\u201d can mean they look like they were used for several seasons as a hockey puck. \u201cBinding shaken\u201d can mean the thing is still holding together, but not symmetrically, and not very firmly. Boards can be dented or stained. (Circular \u201cbeverage stains\u201d are common.) Passages can be underlined or doodled. Page margins can be \u201ctide-marked\u201d or \u201cdampstained\u201d — though not so badly as to obscure the text. \u201cGood\u201d dustjackets can have small pieces missing, though no more than a single letter of the title or a word or two of other text should be missing. \u201cGood\u201d may be the best you can expect for certain hard-to-find books that are more than 100 years old, but they should generally be priced less than a third of a \u201cfine\u201d copy -\u2013 assuming any such copy exists.<\/p>\n

ACCEPTABLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no such grade, for obvious reasons. \u201cAcceptable\u201d to whom, and for what use or purpose? This word generally occurs in listings which have been \u201cimported\u201d from Amazon -\u2013 where sellers are not encouraged to offer full, useful descriptions. And it almost always occurs with no further clarification. Thus, what it means is \u201cNo human being has looked at this book; you\u2019re on your own.\u201d I suppose, in some alternative universe, an \u201cacceptable\u201d book might lie somewhere between \u201ccrummy\u201d and \u201cnice,\u201d while falling far short of \u201cawesome.\u201d But do we really need such an ad hoc, alternative, \u201canybody\u2019s guess\u201d grading scale? Especially charming is a listing which grades a book \u201cacceptable,\u201d adding no further description whatsoever, and then cheerfully adds \u201cWe guarantee all our books to be as described.\u201d (What?) While an \u201cacceptable\u201d book might<\/em> turn out to be fine or unread, the buyer in self-defense is left with little choice but to assume it\u2019s \u201cfair.\u201d <\/p>\n

FAIR<\/strong><\/p>\n

The text of a \u201cfair\u201d book must be complete, but it may be missing dust jacket, blank endpapers, or even the half-title and other preliminary pages. I mean: someone may have torn them out. Boards can be bent, warped, or partially torn. A lending library history is common. A \u201cfair\u201d dust jacket will generally look like one of those attempts to glue together a piece of ancient pottery even though several major chunks were missing. It can also feature spider-webbing \u2013- look like it’s been crumpled up and then badly ironed back into shape. Pages can be noticeably water-damaged or age-browned, though they should not crumble away at a touch. This is the classic \u201creading copy.\u201d<\/p>\n

POOR<\/strong><\/p>\n

A \u201cpoor\u201d book is a mess. Chances are it\u2019s not all there, and if the covers aren\u2019t detached from the text block entirely, they can be hanging by a thread. Ink stains, mildew and the depredations of bugs and rodents abound in all their glory. You may want to freeze them for a couple of weeks, to make sure nothing new hatches out. Most \u201cpoor\u201d books are thrown away, or stored in the attic with a piece of string tied around them, as mementos of grandma\u2019s school days. They can still have some value, however, if they\u2019re the remnants of an important or valuable book, from which pages or plates (full-page illustrations, tipped in on glossy stock) can be salvaged and cannibalized to make a complete copy. This is called \u201cbook-breaking\u201d -\u2013 an acceptable practice to rescue usable portions of a deceased book, though an abomination (in the view of most lovers of old books) when done to illustrated books which remained in otherwise nice condition, on the grounds that the illustrations are worth more than the book itself, once they\u2019re cut out and framed. \u201cPoor\u201d books are also sometimes sold as \u201cbinding copies,\u201d meaning you\u2019re expected to haul them to a professional bookbinder and get them rebound (minimum cost, $100 to $200 — acceptable for the family Bible, not so smart if you\u2019re planning to re-sell your finished product for 70 bucks.)<\/p>\n

These, then, are the seven grades of a used book: As new unread; fine; near fine; very good, good, fair, and poor. With the exception of true rarities, generally more than 100 years old, books must be at least \u201cvery good\u201d to be deemed \u201ccollectible.\u201d Of course, no one can stop sellers from insisting they have a book that\u2019s \u201cgood-minus\u201d or \u201cvery-good-plus-plus,\u201d doubling or tripling the number of grades, ad infinitum.<\/p>\n

This should get you started. It\u2019s still not as much fun as spending a few hours in a used bookstore. But those guys you see out in the street, sweeping up the elephant droppings? They mean \u201cThe parade’s gone by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happy hunting.<\/p>\n

— V.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sell books both online (www.abebooks.com\/servlet\/SearchResults?sortby=0&vci=51238921) and in our brick and mortar bookstore, inside the Charleston Antique Mall in Las Vegas. For the seller, selling Online is a much better deal — which is why I reluctantly predict the free-standing \u201cused and collectible\u201d bookstore will be a thing of the past in about another decade, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53,33,55,26,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-collectibles","category-fiction","category-literacy","category-readers-write"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-Em","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2502"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3829,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502\/revisions\/3829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}