A great many booksellers have cats. Most of the time they do little to harm anything. There are exceptions.

The first image shows a book entitled How to Massage Your Cat. It arrived in pristine condition; by the next morning it had been reviewed, and approved. The damage came from biting the corner of the book.

The second image shows a John Henry Nash imprint from the time he was in Eugene, Oregon. This is not the most valuable of Nash titles though only 350 copies were produced, It was rejected for sale by the use of claws across the dust jacket, The scatches make clear that this is no longer a title to be sold.

Larvae of any insect which harms books by feeding on binding or leaves. As they eat their way through the pages of a book, they leave a trail known as “worming.” At times the worms will eat through an area of the pages; at other times holes are the diameter of one worm. In each case it is common to see the damage on many consecutive pages.

For additional information consider: Hickin, Norman. BOOKWORMS: The Insect Pests of Books. London: Sheppard Press, 1985. The author illustrates and discusses insects and damage they cause. He also describes environmental conditions that make damage more likely, and ways to improve the environment to lessen damage.

Silverfish (Lepisma saccharinum) are small, primitive insects which feed on starches and other carbohydrates in paper and some book cloth. They favor uncoated paper, often sparing printed areas, and consume material in a characteristic laced pattern. A nocturnal species, they avoid light, and prefer a humid environment. Books stored in basements & attics are common targets.

The first image shows a dust jacket with parts entirely consumed by silverfish, avoiding the inked text. The book cloth shows consumption of the surface. The second and third images show characteristic trails of surface consumption. The fourth image shows the surface consumption of book cloth.

Mice and rats eat many things, and they are able to cause damage to books in their search for food. The damage each cause is similar but some are larger and cause more damage.

The items pictured were all damaged by one or the other. The first image shows some damaged boards with some additional damage to the pages. The second image shows some damaged spines. In one case, the perp even ate through the clear protective cover. The third image shows a Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) damaged at the edge.

A book that becomes wet can become moldy. The mold grows on natural paper (like that produced from trees or cotton). It looks powdery and most commonly is black in color. Books that show evidence of mold must be handled carefully and should be kept away from other books.

Pictured are black mold on the side of a book, and black mold at the spine on the front endpapers.

(-Stamped, -Tooled, or -Embossed). Impressed into paper or binding material without color or gilding, leaving an impression only.

The example shown is from the Freemasonry title Morals and Dogma. The front board (inset) shows the image in gilt; the larger rear image show the same image blindstamped.

The front and back covers of a hardcover book, today typically a stiff cardboard base (binder's board) covered with cloth, paper, or leather.

Also BCE. Editions published by book clubs (i.e.: The Book-of-the-Month Club (BOMC), Fireside Book Club, History Book Club, The Literary Guild, etc.). Generally speaking, not first editions although some Science Fiction or other genres where first edition publication took place through a Club. A seller should always disclose if a book is a BCE. The collector should arm themselves with the relevant bibliographies to know how to tell a BCE from a true first edition and when a BCE might be desirable.

For over a century the San Francisco-based Book Club of California has promoted the history of the book and the book arts with a concentration in California and Western history. BCC promotes the book arts through lectures, exhibitions, and the publication of fine, limited edition, letterpress-printed books and ephemera.

Since 1958, the Book Club of Detroit has served regional bibliophiles, librarians, educators, and collectors interested in books, illustration, printing, binding, design, and publishing. In-person and virtual meetings, tours, presentations, and events are offered for the education and camaraderie they provide. Club members exhibit at the Ann Arbor Antiquarian Book Fair and organize the Detroit Festival of Books.

Separate paper covering for the book. Also referred to as a dust jacket or dustwrapper. A well-established practice among publishers as early as the middle of the nineteenth century.

A term sometimes used to describe a business model which is based on uploading a datafile consisting of  hundreds of thousands or even millions  of titles of books, many out of print, often at inflated prices, and implying that they have these books available to ship to the customer. In reality, these businesses are only data uploaders, with no inventory in stock.  If they receive an order, they attempt to find a copy for their customer, and usually request that it be sent directly to that customer. They usually do not give any description of the book, but assign it a grade  (new, very good, acceptable, etc) .  Sometimes they will add boilerplate to the data file ("wear to the covers") to bolster the false impression that they actually have a copy.  Sometimes they claim to be practicing arbitrage by listing in markets which might otherwise not have any copies, but they also upload data files to the same markets where booksellers are offering copies.  Some claim to have a "network" of dealers - but most do not work with, or have agreements with,  any actual booksellers. Because this business model is based on deception,  book buyers should beware of these sellers.

A small book, often only a few pages long and bound in wrappers (pamphlet could be used as a synonym).

BookPeople understands and empowers booksellers to do business their way - from postage deals, to staying connected, to having a say in Canberra, BookPeople promote the unique benefits of bookshops and the interests of Australian booksellers. They recognize and celebrate the special role that books and bookselling play in society - creating community, supporting creativity and ideas, and opening doors to other worlds and experiences.

https://www.bookpeople.org.au/

An ownership label, usually placed inside front cover. Also Book Plate. Many have become collectible due to the designer or owner; others actually lower the value of books printed in the last 50 or so years, especially book plates that can be commonly purchased in batches of 50 or 100 with a space left for the owner’s name to be penciled or inked-in.

The first image offers a sampling of bookplates. The second image shows examples of armorial plates. Generally these were used to show family origins. The last image shows bookplates from two famous authors -- Jack and Charmian London.

A sticker placed in a book to identify the store that offered the book for sale.

As the second image shows, these stickers were generally placed at the bottom of the rear endpaper. These were sometimes affixed to the front endpaper or the front cover.

Also referred to as a bookseller's label. There are collectors for books from particular stores and it can be helpful to identify the label where one is found.

Bookworms are book lovers who spend much of their time reading. But see also Biopredation - Insects (BookWorms) for the insect that causes damage.

Bowing is a convex warp or curvature of a book's covers, away from the middle of the text block. Bowed covers occur less often than splayed covers. There are many causes of bowing:

• Stresses in the boards' directional grain can warp them.

• A change in the boards' moisture content can cause their directional grain to warp in one direction.

• Leather, vellum, cloth, or paper covering the boards can shrink more or less than the boards and warp them.

• Pastedowns can shrink more or less than the boards and warp them.

Also BROADSHEET. Any piece of printed matter printed on only one side of a sheet of paper.

A heavy weave of binding cloth.