FAQ

This is a service business.   When you buy from us, you'll  get

- Competitive pricing
- Same-day shipping
- Books that are as we described ... or better
- Cheerful returns
- If we've sold the book you wanted, we'll try to find you an equal or better copy.

Ken’s Guarantee

I will give you a full refund on any book for any reason for one full year.

You may return any book at any time and receive full credit toward a future purchase

Fine print item one: You pay for shipping. Fine print item two: Books must be in the same condition as you received them.

Condition

Grading the condition of a book and dust jacket tends to be a very subjective exercise. What one person considers a minor problem is a complete roadblock to the next person. My grading represents the feeling I have of the overall condition of the book and dust jacket. I’ve attempted to note all significant defects and conditions that we used in our evaluation.

I use the following abbreviations

VF -Very Fine: No defects; perfect
F – Fine: Perhaps one or two very minor defects
NF - Near Fine: A more significant defect or several minor defects
VG - Very Good: A worn, but intact book; jacket missing small pieces
G – Good: Severe defects

I tend not to include bookplates, owner names and remainder marks in my evaluation of overall condition. These should always be noted in the description and will be reflected in pricing. I use +/- modifiers when I am caught between grades. The book or dust jacket may "feel" better or worse than the grade the defects point to.

Common Terms

Bumping - Occurs when the corners or edges of the boards have encountered a hard surface and lost. Light bumping will cause a slight dent or soft spot. More severe bumping may crease the board, sometimes badly enough to cause a tear in the material.

Chipped/chipping – very small pieces chipped off the edge of a dust jacket, usually at spine ends or corners.

Closed tear - The jacket has been torn with no loss of paper or color.

Creases/creasing - Jacket or page has been folded with enough pressure to leave a line which cannot be removed.

Dampstain/waterstain - The result of the book or jacket having been wet, usually from water. A discoloration may be seen or ink may have run.

Dog eared - Corner of a page has been folded over and left a crease.

Edge wear - Generic term for wear on edges of jacket.

Erasures - The erasing of writing from a page has not been totally successful and has left a faint image or has been too aggressive and has caused some abrasion to the paper.

Foxing - Discoloration spots on pages or page edges, usually brown or yellow, resulting from chemical reaction of certain properties in the paper to the atmosphere.

Jacket offset - Book has been exposed to sunlight leaving an image from the jacket visible on the boards.

Laminate peeling - The lamination on the jacket has lifted from the jacket. Usually occurs along edges (peeling) or near raised letters (bubbling).

Lean - See Spine lean/slant.

Price clipped - Corner of the jacket flap which displays the price has been cut off.

Reading crease - See spine crease.

Remainder mark - An ink mark on the page edges that denote a book which has been returned to the publisher and is not to be sold at full price. This may be in the form of a publisher's logo stamp, a magic marker line or dot, or ink sprayed on the entire surface (not to be confused with topstain).

Rubbing - Repeated sliding of the book against a shelf or other book may lead to this kind of wear.

Sagging - Pages, particularly in large, heavy books, have given in to gravity and settled.

Shelf wear - See rubbing.

Slant - see spine lean/slant.

Spine crease - A vertical crease along the spine of the book caused by holding the book too far open during reading.

Spine lean/slant – There is no longer a right angle between the boards and the spine.  If severe enough, the book will not stand on its own.

Sticker shadow - An area on the jacket or a page where a sticker has been removed and has left a faint spot.

Sunned - The dust jacket or boards have been bleached or faded by sunlight.  Some colors react and change to a different color.