Refers to the corners or spine ends of a book that has been damaged by being dropped or carelessly handled or shelved.

California Rare Book School (CALRBS) offers focused courses, workshops, lectures, and certificate programs. These provide knowledge and skills required by collectors, professionals, and students working in the library, special collections, archives, museums, and rare book communities. Most courses are held in California, USA, with some in Italy, Mexico, New York, and  Washington DC.  Annually, IOBA and others offer scholarships to those wishing to improve their knowledge and skills.

https://www.calrbs.org/

Due to errors or defects in printing, a book may have one or more pages removed from the text block by the publisher after it has been bound. The new printed matter pasted on to the resulting stub(s) by the publisher is referred to as a “cancel” or “cancellans”.

The Cascade Booksellers Association (CBA) is a non-profit association providing services to professional retail book dealers in the Pacific Northwest.  Each independent CBA dealer their own unique inventory which may include general stock or focus on specialties. CBA dealers may operate their businesses with diverse policies, but are required to conduct business fairly and honestly.

https://cascadebooksellers.com/

An assembled enclosure for the text block of a book including the boards and spine.

The image is of a book that is in two pieces. The text block is at left and the case at the right.

The Caxton Club has focused on “the literary study and promotion of the arts pertaining to the production of books and the occasional publishing of books designed to illustrate, promote and encourage these arts” since 1895. This Chicago-based US club provides a forum for the exchange of information on the book arts, hosts exhibitions, and publishes fine books on relevant topics. The Caxton Club also encompases the appreciation of digital books, typography and printing, broadsides, maps, and printed ephemera.

Small, inexpensive books produced from the 17th century until today, originally sold by “chapmen”, peddlers, and hawkers. Contents usually of a popular, sensational, juvenile, or moral / educational character.

Fairly modern term referring to books for older children which are organized into chapters, as opposed to “picture books”, which often are not.

A binding that has been damaged having small pieces broken off of a dust jacket or binding (most often from the spine).

Abbreviated CA. Refers to an approximate date when actual date is unknown.

A tear with no material missing. It could also mean a tear repaired and closed with Japanese tissue or other such type of paper used for page repairs in the trade.

Refers to paper that is smooth and polished; something has been applied to the surface to make it appear glossy.

If, when looking down on the head of a book, the corners are not square it is said to be cocked or rolled. Also known as a spine slant. (Note: cocking can also involve a book’s spine being slightly twisted or non-vertical at either end that is not severe enough to cause spine slant.). Frequently the result of stacking books on top of one another.

The top two pictured books are square; the remaining two are cocked with the first one a bit more so.

To verify completeness of a book by examining it carefully. For books produced in the hand-press era, this involves some knowledge of format. The leaves in a gathering must be counted and deviations from the expected count noted. Then the book should be compared against a known complete copy, or with a comprehensive bibliography. At this point, the book seller’s description should note how, if at all, the copy at hand is different from a complete copy. The expression of the complete sequence of a book is known as a Collation.

In the fifteenth century, books were originally published without title pages (and the corresponding Copyright Page) The printer indicated his production of the book on the “colophon” typically inserted at the rear of the book. Information contained in these early colophons might include the date the printing was completed, the name of the book, the printer, the printer’s “device”, and often a “register,” or a list of the signatures from which the book was made-up (sometimes the colophon states the number of copies printed, and in the case of a limited edition, will cite the copy number and may contain the signature of the author, illustrator, or publisher). In modern use, a colophon will describe details about the production of the book.

Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminars (CABS), now held at St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, USA, is a week-long, hands-on, intensive program on all aspects of bookselling. Faculty and guest speakers of long experience deliver lectures, interactive sessions, and demonstrations tailored primarily for booksellers, but have benefit for collectors, and librarians. Collegial networking enhances the experience for students and faculty, alike. Annually, IOBA and others offer scholarships to those wishing to improve their knowledge and skills.

https://www.bookseminars.com

https://www.bookseminars.com/scholarships.php

In comb binding a book, rectangular holes are punched through leaves, adjacent to the spine, and the "teeth" of a flexible plastic comb are passed through the holes so that the comb forms the spine. Typically, a manual or powered machine is used to punch the leaves, then insert the plastic comb. Combs are available in standardized sizes that can accommodate up to 425 leaves. Comb binding is an expedient method of binding that is low cost, requires minimal skill, and results in a book that will lie flat when open.

The first image shows an uncorrected proof copy, comb bound because the proof was considered impermanent compared to the trade edition. The second image shows a data handbook used in the selling of trucks.

Pages are connected so the front of one leaf is attached to the rear of the next, appearing in the form of a continuous group of the letter "V". Brochures and leaflets can be created in this manner. A book with boards and pages connected in this manner is sometimes called a Leporello, the term being a reference to the manservant in Mozart's Don Giovanni, who at one point pulls out a set of demands on pages folded in this manner (Wiki).

The first image shows an illustrated adaptatation of Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood). The second image shows a small book from Barnacle Bindery and clearly shows the concertina fold construction.

La CLAQ est une corporation à but non lucratif fondée en 1987 afin de promouvoir l’intérêt pour le livre ancien. Elle regroupe une trentaine de libraires qui désirent maintenir un haut niveau de professionnalisme et ainsi favoriser, autant chez ses membres que dans le grand public, l’acquisition de connaissances pour la conservation, l’évaluation et la mise en valeur d’une partie importante de notre patrimoine collectif : le livre ancien.

CLAQ is a non-profit corporation founded in 1987 to promote interest in antiquarian books. It brings together some thirty booksellers who wish to maintain a high level of professionalism and thus promote, both among its members and the general public, the acquisition of knowledge for the conservation, evaluation and enhancement of an important part of our collective heritage: the antiquarian book.

http://claq.ca

Also CONTEMPORANEOUS. A binding that was placed on the book at or near the time of publication though not by the publisher. Up until the 19th century (and continuing much later in some countries, like France), most books were published unbound, in plain paper covers or boards, and the purchaser would have the book bound to his taste by his bookbinder (often these bindings were designed to match other books in his library.)