Glossary of Book and Ephemera Terms and Abbreviations

 

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T. title page date, usually shown in conjunction with copyright date ([C.]).

 

tab. another term for [stub].

 

table. information presented in a list, or in columns of type.

 

table of contents / TOC. a list of each chapter or section of a book, in the order in which they appear in the text, and giving the page number where each begins. Modern US books usually have this at the front; many older US books, and many European books, have it at the rear.

 

tail. 1. another name for the [heel]. 2. bottom edge of the [textblock].

 

tailband / footband. narrow decorative cloth band, sometimes colored or multi-colored, appearing inside the [backstrip] at the bottom of the spine of a book. An equivalent band at the top is the [headband].

 

tanned. [browned] or sunned.

 

Taratan (brand name). a type of [bonded leather].

 

tattered. extremely worn.

 

TE / te. top edge.

 

TEG / teg. top edge [gilt].

 

Texoderm (brand name). an [imitation leather] fabric.

 

text. the main content of the book. See also [textblock], [in text].

 

textblock / text block. the entire book sewn together before it is bound. Also called book block. Includes all the pages except the [endpapers].

 

textbook. scholarly book published for specific educational purposes, usually written for a specific age or educational level, sometimes written for one specific class or specialized course. School textbooks are commonly [library bound]; college textbooks are often printed in very small quantities and are thus extremely expensive. See [bundled].

 

Textmount (brand name). [paperback] book that has been [rebound] as a [hardcover] for library use. The generic term is [prebind].

 

thousands. an indication that the book is a [reprint]. Some publishers in the 1800s added a notice on the [title page] stating, for example, "eighth thousand," to advertise how many copies had already been sold (in this case, seven thousand). Such books are not [first editions].

 

threadbare. extremely worn, referring to cloth.

 

three-decker. book published in three volumes. A term almost exclusively used to describe novels of the late 1800s.

 

three-quarter bound or 3/4 bound. having a leather spine, and leather over the corners of the [boards], usually diagonally, with the central parts of the boards covered in cloth or paper. Sometimes called three-quarter leather.

 

through paginated. refers to a set of volumes in which pages are numbered consecutively from volume to volume, rather than each volume beginning at page one.

 

throwaway. another name for [flyer].

 

thumb crease. wrinkle, usually slight and often curved, indicating the place where the [owner] was accustomed to holding the book as it was read. Often seen on the rear covers of [mass market paperbacks].

 

thumb cut. another name for [thumb index].

 

thumb index. small notch in the [fore-edge] of the book, made by cutting semi-circles out of a group of pages, and often having a letter or word showing at the base of the notch, designed for quickly finding a certain page or section. Generally seen in reference books; for example, some large dictionaries have a thumb index for each letter.

 

tidemark stain. [waterstain] created when a book was engulfed by a puddle and soaked up water from the bottom.

 

tight. together; in one piece; not [cracked] or loose or damaged in any significant way. Usually refers to the [hinges] or binding.

 

Tijuana Bible. general term for a small, slim volume, usually 8 pages, of pornographic comics, published and distributed (illegally) in the US from the 1920s to the 1960s. Many different underground publishers produced them; writers and artists were almost always unnamed. These publications died out when photographic porn became widely available.

 

timetable. a type of [ephemera], such as a train schedule, printed to inform the public of the availability of regularly scheduled services.

 

tinted. 1. printed with an early color process, usually lacking vibrant hues. 2. colored separately after being printed, often by hand.

 

tintype / ferrotype. 1. an early type of photographic process in which the image is made directly on a thin iron plate (not tin) treated with tar, thus there is no negative and no copies can be made. Invented in 1853 by Adolphe Alexander Martin, it was an improved version of the [ambrotype]. It was considered obsolete by the 1870s, although some photographers continued to produce them until the 1940s. 2. An image made by the tintype process.

 

tip. 1. corner of a page. 2. corner of a [board], referring to [hardcovers]. 3. corner of the cover, referring to [softcovers].

 

tipped in. attached to the book after the normal binding process. Usually refers to an [illustration] printed on a separate [plate], then glued to a blank page in the book by a small amount of adhesive. Tipped in [illustrations] generally indicate a higher quality publication.

 

tirage (French: printing or impression). usually refers to a [limited edition], often numbered and dated.

 

tissue guard / tissue overlay. thin tissue-paper page inserted in a book to protect an illustration, as well as the page facing an illustration, from damage or [offset]. These may be [bound in], [laid in], or [tipped in], and are not considered an essential part of the book.

 

title page / tp. a page, usually near the beginning of a book, listing the title and subtitle; authors, editors, and/or contributors; publisher or printer; and usually the place and date of publication. The title as given on the title page -- not the [half title], cover, [spine], or [dust jacket] -- is normally used for cataloging because the title shown on the spine or front cover may be an abbreviation of the actual title, and in some cases does not match the title at all.

 

title page index / TPI / tpi. term used in describing periodicals to indicate that the title page and [index] are present. Some collectors consider a volume of a periodical to be incomplete without a title page and index.

 

TLS / tls. [typed letter signed].

 

TOC. [table of contents].

 

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toned. [browned] or sunned.

 

tooled / tooling. decorative designs impressed into leather by hand rather than with a stamping machine, usually seen in fine bindings. Such designs might be inked, [gilt], or [blind].

 

top edge gilt / teg. the top edges of the pages have been covered with [gilt] or gold leaf.

 

topstain. solid inked coloration on the top edges of the pages, done by the publisher for decoration, usually in blue or red, but sometimes in other colors. Compare [top edge gilt].

 

TP / tp. 1. [title page]. 2. [trade paperback].

 

TPB / tpb. [trade paperback].

 

TPI / tpi. [title page index].

 

tract. religious or devotional publication, often containing material intended to persuade. Usually refers to a [leaflet].

 

trade binding. describes a binding supplied by the publisher or bookseller, as opposed to being bound by the purchaser. In former times, books were often published [unbound], or bound in disposable paper covers, and were expected to be bound by the [owner] after purchase. In the US, trade bindings became commonplace in the mid to late 1800s.

 

trade edition. regularly published edition, made for sale to the general public and sold in ordinary book stores. The term is used to differentiate such editions from the [limited edition] or [book club edition] of the same title. Books that are self published, [privately printed] books, government reports, and other similar items are not trade editions.

 

trade paperback. 1. general term for any [softcover] book other than a standard-sized [mass market paperback]. Sometimes called quality paperback. 2. a one-volume softcover edition of a group of related [comic books], usually made up of [reprints].

 

trade publication. published solely for commercial purposes, as opposed to scholarly journals, government reports, [privately printed] works, and so forth.

 

trading card. a type of [ephemera] consisting of a small card printed with popular culture images such as baseball players or movie characters. Generally they are printed in a series but distributed one at a time so collectors have to trade with each other in order to acquire a complete series. Standard trading cards measure (64 x 90 mm) 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".

 

tranchier. book on how to carve meat.

 

trans. 1. translator: one who changes the text from one language into another. 2. translation: not in the original language.

 

tray case. a type of [slipcase] having a folding flap to cover the open edge.

 

trichromatic. printed in three colors. (Pronounced try-kroh-MATT-ik.)

 

tri-fold. general name for any piece of [ephemera] with three folds, such as a four-panel brochure.

 

trimmed. (adj.). 1. evenly cut. 2. pages have been cut down to a size smaller than when originally issued.

 

true first. refers exclusively to the absolutely first edition. Only a 1st edition, 1st printing is a true first, and in the case of a title having a [point of issue] and/or more than one [state], only a 1st edition, 1st printing, 1st issue, 1st state can be called a true first.

 

tuck. a type of self-closing binding having a narrow flap on the [fore-edge] of the rear [board] which is inserted into a slot on the front. Commonly seen on Bibles and prayer books of the 1800s.

 

Turtleback (brand name). [paperback] book that has been [rebound] as a [hardcover] for library use. The generic term is [prebind].

 

tweed. a type of paper or composite material with an imitation heavy-weave finish.

 

12mo. see [size terms].

 

typed. typewritten; that is, composed and printed on a typewriter, as opposed to hand lettered or printed by standard methods. The first practical typewriter was patented in 1873 and the machines continued to be commonly used until replaced by home computers in the 1980s.

 

typed letter signed / TLS. a [typed] letter [signed] by hand. Such items are of interest to [autograph] collectors.

 

typescript. a type of [manuscript], [typed] rather than handwritten by the author.

 

typical. refers to commonly found defects.

 

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This glossary was written and compiled by Gwen Foss of Alan's Used Books with thanks to the many independent bookdealers of TomFolio.com.