(no subject)

[arethinn]

I'm a little confused when I see booksellers online describe an item as a "good reading copy". I suppose for some works you might be interested in having a pristine copy simply to collect, but we're not talking important or rare works here. What else are they expecting me to do with it, but read it? What would be a "bad reading copy"?

Actually, now that I mention it, I've seen books I would have described as "good asswipe copies", so I guess there are other possibilities.

Comments

[kistaro]

Good reading copy: damaged/missing dustjacket, possible cover damage, page damage in the margins that does not impinge on text, possible water damage that does not impinge on text, negligible collector's/decorative value.

I know lots and lots of people who buy books for decoration, with no intent to ever read them. I do not understand these people.

[talonstrike.livejournal.com]

An English friend of mine living here in Portland, OR has a single small bookcase filled with books. He comments from time to time on the typical American attitude toward reading, noting that he's been asked on more than one occasion by an American visitor, "Have you read ALL those books?!". Apparently the typical reaction to the revelation that he has indeed read several dozen books in his life is, "WOW!".

I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now.

[arethinn]

O.o

My personal library is quite small (by my standards, working in a library as I do) -- maybe 150 books tops. But aside from a handful which are "yes, yes, I'm getting around to that", I have indeed read them all. And many books which I no longer own. And many which I have never owned.

My mother's library of medieval textile, ornament, clothing, etc. books (she's a costuming Laurel in the SCA), OTOH, makes my dad fear that it is making the floor sag and/or somehow separate from the load-bearing wall the cases are up against just from the sheer weight.

[talonstrike.livejournal.com]

You wrote:
I've seen books I would have described as "good asswipe copies"

Based upon condition or content?

[arethinn]

Both. Either. ;)

[danodea.livejournal.com]

I have been known to buy both a reading copy and a collector's copy of some older books by authors whom I particularly like. I have several 1st edition copies of some of Andre Norton's early novels, for example. Bagged, of course. For each of those, I also have a more recent copy that I can re-read when I choose, without having to worry about damaging the collector's copy.

I've seen books I would have described as "good asswipe copies"

That made me laugh.
Thanks :)

[arethinn]

For each of those, I also have a more recent copy that I can re-read when I choose, without having to worry about damaging the collector's copy.

*nods* makes sense. But this was, like, "The Magic of Shapeshifting". Very much mass market, you know? Not first edition of a well-known author, or whatever.