Glossary of Book and Ephemera Terms and Abbreviations
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nameplate. another name for [masthead].
NAP / No Additional Printings. A term meaning the [title page] and [copyright page] give only one date and
list no other [printings]. This term is often used when the dealer is not sure whether the book in hand is a [first
edition], but the fact that there are no additional printings is a positive clue.
ND / nd. no date.
NDJ / ndj. no [dust jacket].
near fine / NF. see [condition terms].
near very good. condition slightly less than Very Good, but better than Good. See [condition terms].
net. priced as shown; no discounts will be given.
new. refers to a book which has not been sold, read, or handled too much, and should therefore not show
any signs of wear. See [condition terms]. Compare [hurt], [remainder].
newsprint. a type of cheap, thin, tough, usually high-acid paper chiefly used for printing newspapers. Usually
made of wood pulp rather than cotton rags. The first time a US newspaper was printed on wood pulp paper
was 1863, and most have been printed on it since.
NF. 1. near fine. in almost as immaculate condition as Fine; may have a whisper of wear, but no defects of
any kind. See [condition terms]. 2. [nonfiction].
NIB. New in Box. See [MIB].
Nihil Obstat. with [Imprimatur], a declaration from a Roman Catholic official that the book is free of doctrinal
or moral error.
NM. Near Mint. Almost as good as new, with only very minor wear. Technically, Near Fine rather than near
mint should be the term used to describe a book in such condition, since books are printed, not minted. See
[condition terms].
No / #. see [number].
no date / nd. no date of publication is mentioned within the book.
no place / np. no place of publication is mentioned within the book.
nonfiction. any informational material, including [textbooks], reference books, how-to books, and books on
history and the sciences. The opposite is [fiction].
nos. numbers. See [number].
notch case. a type of [hardcover] (<i>casebound) book having a pronounced groove along each [joint]. This
type of binding is most often seen in children's books with paper-covered [boards], rather than cloth, and
often with an [illustration] that extends all the way from the back over the [spine] to the front. It is also used
for some [textbooks] and other [hardcovers]. This is a book manufacturer's term, not normally used by
bookdealers.
NP / np. 1. no place. 2. no publisher listed (seldom used).
np.np. no place and no publisher listed.
number. 1. one part of a [series]. 2. one copy of a [limited edition]. 3. one [issue] of a periodical. The
abbreviation is no. and the symbol is #.
number line. general term for a common method used by many publishers to indicate number of [printing].
The number line is shown on the [copyright page] as, for example: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. A book with a
complete number line is, in most cases, a first edition, although there are always exceptions. A fourth printing,
for example, would have a number line like this: 4 5 6 7 8 9. Number lines came into common usage in the
1970s, although W. W. Norton began using them in the early 1960s, and Random House and Harper &
Row started using them in 1969. Also called [printers key].
NVG. Near Very Good. A rarely-used grade above Good but below Very Good. See [condition terms].
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