Ads., advs. -Advertisements.

ARC - advanced reading copy, typically sent out by a publisher to solicit reviews or to promote sales of a book prior to its publication. ARC's are sometimes but not always in the form of bound proofs; a message from the publisher may be laid in or tipped in.

BCE -see book club, below.

Binding copy - a book which needs to be rebound, and is worth rebinding.

BOMC - Book-of-the-Month Club.

Book Club - edition of a book printed especially for a book club.

Brodart - Plastic cover that protects a book's dust jacket or binding.

B/W - black and white.

Bumped - dented (usually on edge or corners of boards).

Chipped - small tears or excisions along the edge of pages or dust jacket.

Clamshell - hinged box (board covered in paper, cloth or leather, or a combination of these), usually custom-made, to hold a book for its protection. On a shelf, the clamshell box may look like a book, with a title on its spine.

DJ or DW - dust jacket.

Ed - edition.

Endpapers - the sheets of paper pasted onto the inner covers, joining the book block to the covers. One side of the sheet is pasted to the inside cover, the other is left free.

Exlib, ex-lib - book from a library, usually with library markings.

First edition - often, but not always, more valuable than later editions (though of course most books don't get beyond a first edition or even a first printing!).

Foxed - brownish spotting of paper, usually because of acid content.

Frontis. - frontispiece (initial illustration, typically facing title page).

Gilt - indicates the pages of a book have been trimmed and the outside edges covered in gilt, or gold. The abbreviation g.e., or gilt edges, is sometimes used.

Gutter - center crease of an opened book: bread crumbs have a way of gathering here.

Insc. - inscribed.

Laid in - (sometimes: loosely laid in) a letter or other sheet(s) inserted but not glued into a book.

Ltd., limited ed. - an edition limited to a specified number of copies.

LOC - Library of Congress

Ms, mss - manuscript, manuscripts.

ND - no date given for publication.

NP - no place, publisher or printer.

Offsetting - the process which causes a reversed image inadvertently to appear on the page facing the original impression.

Pastedown - page that is pasted onto the front or read inside board of a book.

PBO - paperback original.

Pc, or price clipped - usually a small triangle cut from the front inside corner of a dust jacket to remove the indication of a book's price. Dust jackets with clipped prices are generally considered inferior to ones that are intact.

POI - previous owner inscription.

Pub.- publisher or published.

Rem, or rm - Remainder. A copy sold by a publisher after withdrawing the book from publication. Often slightly disfigured, either with a rubber stamp or with a black line crudely drawn across one of the edges.

Rubbed - indicates that the outer layer of the material used on the binding has been rubbed off.

Slipcase - container (made of board covered in paper, cloth or leather, or a combination of these) into which a book may be "slipped" for its protection.

Spine - the bound outer edge of a book.

Tipped in - a sheet or sheets which were not part of the original bound book ,but are now. Pages are tipped in by dabbing minute amounts of glue onto the edge that is to be inserted into the book.

Trade edition - usually, "first trade edition" (as distinct from limited editions, often signed or with special paper or bindings, which appear before the full commercial publication of a book.)

Trade Sized – usually softcover or paperback and larger than typical paperback/pocket book

Vol. - volume.

Wrappers - as in soft covers.