About Book Collecting

Bibliophilia is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile loves books, but especially for “qualities of format.” A bookworm loves books for their content, or otherwise loves reading in general. Also, a bibliophile may be a book collector.

Book collectors are those who collect in order to have certain types of books, such as someone building a collection of pre-19th century American authors. The importance is the completeness of the collection, the quality of the books, and the value of the collection. The individual books may not matter as much as what they represent as a piece of a larger set. In some cases, the books in this collection may never be read by their current owner.

Bookworms are those who collect in order to acquire a book which has an emotional connection for them. For example, someone who works in the theater might spend time searching for a first printing of a favorite play, but not amass a large library of first printings. These are the people who search for a signed copy of a work which has special significance to them, but aren’t interested in the resale value. Often they are buying a book as a gift, or because they plan to read it themselves, time and time again.

Neither kind of collector is better than the other. It is all a matter of personal preference. Dagan Books does not cater to either bibliophiles or bookworms exclusively, and we are happy to personally assist you in finding the right books for you.

Some notes on terminology:

As with other collectibles, the value of a book ultimately depends on its physical condition. Years of handling, moving, and storage take their toll on the dust jacket, cover, pages, and binding. Books are subject to damage from sunlight, moisture, and insects. Acid from the papermaking process can cause the pages to develop brown spots, called foxing; gradually turn brown, called tanning; and ultimately crumble. All items listed for sale by Dagan Books will have a detailed list of any visible damage included in the item description.

Some common abbreviations:

Very Fine (New) (VF/N) – Perfect condition. No damage.

Fine (Like New) (F) – No defects, little usage. May show remainder marks. Older books may show minor flaws.

Very Good (VG) – Shows some signs of wear and is no longer fresh. Attractive.

Good (G) – The average used book with all pages present. Books with loose bindings, highlighting, cocked spine, torn dust jackets, can fall into this category.

Fair (FR ) – Obviously well-worn and handled but no text pages are missing, however, it may be without endpapers or a title page. There might be markings, but they do not interfere with readability.

Poor (P) – All text is legible but may be soiled and have binding defects. Reading copies and binding copies fall into this category.

A.E.G.: All Edges Gilt

auth : author

bce : book club edition

bd. : bound

bdg. : binding

bk / bks : book / books

bkpl : bookplate

ca. : circa, approximately

cl: cloth

cv : cover

dj : dust jacket