TraulsenBooks: Rare and Collectible

Condition of Books

The following books have been scanned to show what I consider the criteria to be for good, very good, and fine dust jackets. It must be kept in mind that the older the book the more forgiving the criteria. One cannot expect that the same conditions would exist for a dust jacket from a book that is 20 years old  for a jacket that is 50 or 60 years old.

This is a GOOD dust jacket. Note the numerous scuffs and tears, especially around the spine at the top and bottom. The fore-edge is rubbed and there are creases in the paper.  There are NO major pieces of the jacket missing.  There may be some evidence of repair.

This is a dust jacket in very good condition. The tears are minor (usually less than 1/2 inch long and there are only a few (2 or 3) of them. Note the tear on the upper left (by the spine).  There are NO pieces of the jacket missing.  There should be no evidence of repair.  There will be dulling of the gloss on a shiny jacket and possibly minor creases...esp. on the bottom edge and on the spine.  In this specific case, the jacket seems faded but I believe that this was the way it was issued, in a "washed-out" colour.

Here we have a copy of a fine jacket. There are no tears or "significant" rubbing to the shine of the jacket.  There will be no marks of any kind on the jacket.. There may be some slight curling of the edges, but it is very minor.  Note that the bottom edge has some very very minor "chips" out of it.  This is called shelf-wear and is unavoidable.  Unless the book was purchased from the factory in shrink-wrap this minor edge-wear will even occur at the store.