...and you aren't gonna! 'cos we protect you from them 🥷
Hey there,
In our first ever Sincerely, Thryft we’d taken you through the setting up of our Vintage and Rare Books (then a new section in our store) for sale. These two months or so we’ve inspected and priced near 500 (!) books for our store; as our collection grows, so has our familiarity with the sorts of wear and tear that can show up on such aged books.
It’s considered fairly standard to find creases on covers, and foxing on pages, thankfully less so to come across wormholes, tunnels through books left by bookworms, insects that (literally) feed on books 🐛😱 (therefore the term bookworm, to describe a voracious reader, so called because they metaphorically devour books!)
Here’s a picture, if you’re curious, of said wormholes in a book (there aren’t bookworms, don’t be afraid!)...
A pictorial glossary of the terms we use ✍️
When we process our books, we pay careful attention to the details. You’d have noticed, that we include descriptions of the conditions of our Vintage and Rare Books, on our product pages (as highlighted in the screenshot above). Today’s Pictorial Glossary focuses on terms we most often use!
1. BINDING
Refers to the cover of the book surrounding the book block; the material used to make front and back covers.
If a book can lay flat and remain open to any page, binding is loose.
Otherwise, binding (of new / less handled books) is normally tight/intact.
2. COVERS & SPINE
Standard to find creases and small tears on covers of a book.
Same for the spine, especially at its top and bottom!
3. EDGES
Refers to the outer surface of a book’s leaves; top edge is top of book, fore edge is edge that opposes spine, bottom edge is bottom of book.
Edges of books can tan, as in turn brown (pages too!). Stack of books here is arranged according to the extent of tanning (some, moderate and heavy).
Signs of shelf wear (such as scuff marks, shown here) can result from placing a book on and/or removing a book from a shelf.
4. ENDPAPERS, PAGES & PLATES
Endpapers refer to sheets of paper pasted onto inner covers of hard cover books, that join book blocks to covers. Plates are whole-page illustrations, printed separately from pages.
An example of moderate foxing (brown spotting) on front endpapers, often where there is most foxing in a book.
And an example of heavy foxing on endpapers.
Here’s an example of minimal/some foxing, on pages of a book.
And an example of heavy foxing on pages!
If you find yourself in possession of books (vintage or not!) you’d like to better preserve, we’d previously shared tips from New York Public Library, that we’d like to share again!
- Keep books away from heat, moisture and direct sunlight.
- Keep bookshelves away from the exterior walls of your house.
- Clean books regularly by dusting, by holding books closed and wiping covers and edges with a plain soft cloth.
- Shelve books upright, and support them with bookends so they don’t slump. If books are oversized, store them flat.
- When taking books from shelves, don’t pull on the tops of the spines! This can break or detach spines over time. Instead, grasp middles of spines of books to remove them from shelves.
- Use acid-free paper bookmarks, so they don’t leave a residue.
Write us!
If you’re a collector and/or an expert and you’ve got any advice to share with us, we’d be humbled to hear from you!
Otherwise, browse Vintage and Rare Books in our online store here, and/or follow us on Instagram at @thryft_vintage! Promise you won't find any bookworm in our books, ever!
Sincerely,
Thryft