DEFINITIONS OF CONDITION AND OUR STANDARD NOTATIONS

Below the first item is our condition scale. It is based on a 3 to 10 scale with 10 being the best condition. Following the condition scale is our standard abbreviation for the condition, following that is the name of the condition and following that is the definition of the condition.This scale applies no matter how old the item is. This is an absolute scale.

10	m	Mint or As New	This means that the book or the book’s Dust Jacket is in the same immaculate condition in which it was published. There can be no defects of any kind. Seldom does an item meet this criteria.
9	fn	Fine	Approaches the condition of Mint, but without being crisp. There still can be no defects of any consequence and any that may exist will be fully noted in our description.
8	vg	Very Good	Item may show some signs of wear but all defects of consequence will be noted in our description.
7	vg-	Very Good Minus	More defects than Very Good and all of consequence will be noted in our description. This is the normal minimum condition for a collectible book.
6	g	Good	Except in the case of the very rare item or in the case of a limited budget, this is generally not collectible condition. This item is the normal read several times, scuffed, chipped up and not well cared for item.
5	g-	Good Minus	One step less than Good.
4	fr	Fair	This is a very worn item. In the case of a book it will have all its pages, but little else going for it. In the case of a Dust Jacket, there may be only half of it present. If the book has detached covers this is the best it could rate.
3	p	Poor	In the case of a book, it may not even have a binding. All the pages with printing on it will still be present unless noted. In the case of a Dust Jacket there may be only a small fraction of it present.

Our Standard Notations

An item noted as vg/vg means the book (the first vg) and the Dust Jacket (the second vg) are in Very Good condition. An item noted as vg/-- means the book is in Very Good condition and the Dust Jacket is not present.

Similarly an item noted fn/fn means the book and Dust Jacket are both in Fine condition and an item noted fn/-- means the book is in Fine condition and the Dust Jacket is not present. An item noted as fn/vg means the book is in Fine condition and the Dust Jacket is in Very Good condition and so on.

Often, descriptions will include abbreviations for common book terms. Here is a short guide to common abbreviations used on our website and in descriptions of items. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be glad to assist you further.

1st thus -- first edition and first printing of the item published in that particular format

aeg/teg -- all edges gilt or top edge gilt referring to the text block edges.

dj -- dust jacket or dust wrapper, not to be confused with "in wraps" which is another term for a paperback book.

ffep -- front free end paper -- the preliminary blank pages before the title or half title page.

fpd -- front paste down -- the piece of paper attached to the inside of the cover.

p.o. -- previous owner -- this can be used to quantify interior marks, ownership signatures, inscriptions, and bookplates. Noted as: p.o. marking, p.o. sig., p.o. bookplate, etc.

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