Book Description
Hardcover. Light shelf/edge wear, light fraying at head and heel, appears it might have been loose at spine and was reglued (strangely), ownership signatures at ffep and half title, plate lift at front pastedown, chipping at edges of rfep, one map (p.138) free at spine but present, discrete pencil marginalia (including street names on map), else tight and bright. Green cloth boards, gilt lettering, decorative endpages, fold-out maps, frontispiece. Small 8vo. 172pp. Illus. (b/w plates). Noted flaws notwithstanding, a presentable copy of this increasingly scarce volume.
Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.
boards : Common term for the covers of a hardbound book.
spine : The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf. Also known as the back.
chipping : A defect in which small pieces missing from the edges.
tight : Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
heel : The lower most portion of the spine when the book is standing vertically.
gilt : The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book. The edges of the text block, or an inlay in the front cover of the boards, for example.
frontispiece : A portrait or illustration on the page opposing the title page.
8vo : Short for Octavo, A book whose page size is approximately 8-10 inches tall. The size is based on a sheet of paper 25 inches by 38 inches, the size of paper traditionally used by book printers, which has been folded and cut into 16 pages..
Unfortunately often misunderstood to mean 8 volumes.
half title : The leaf which appears just prior to the title page, and typically contains only the title of the book, although, at times, the author's name and/or other information may appear.
ffep : Front free endpaper. Generally, the first page of a book.
plate : Full page illustration or photograph. Plates are printed separately from the text of the book, and bound in at production. I.e., they are not sewn as parts of gatherings.
pastedown : The paper glued to the inside cover of a hard cover book.
rfep : Rear free end paper. The last blank sheet of paper bound into the rear of a book.
marginalia : Notes written in the margins, or beside the text of a book by a previous owner.
Cloth : Generally refers to a hardcover with cloth covering the outside of the book covers.
