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Recognise the month's cover fragment? All is revealed in Cover Story, see entry 17

<foreword>

P+P rip off charges?  Nobody wants to see them and, since last autumn, <the edition> has introduced a fair share post policy which sees many freepost books and all others with subsidised domestic p+p.   But now eBay has got in on the act, and in such a clumsy fashion that it threatens to throw the good venders out with the dishwater. 

eBay's policy review means a flat £2.75 cap on domestic postage except for some 'courier' services for heavy items (which eBay promises to watch) and a £4.50 flat cap for antiquarian books some of which may be valued at several thousand pounds but which will not be able to reflect this in the shipping charge.  It is the clumsiest way of dealing with postal rip-off imaginable.

Putting a cap on postal prices for books is not the solution to rip off p+p charges.  Honest sellers will now have to think twice about selling either heavy or rare books (the latter because postage services that protect the full value of the book will fall outside the cap).

eBay has told me that venders  should absorb the shortfall, and stick the price of the book up.  But how is that playing fair to consumers?  All the vender is doing is balancing one charge against another.   But eBay would say that ... it gets a bigger slice of the selling price for absolutely no added value.  Can eBay be serious about the message it is sending? -- is it trying to kurb unfair p+p practices ... or make more profit? 

Booksellers are encouraged to go the 'courier - heavy' route, but eBay has told me they will lose international visibility.  They will not be able to include international tariffs on their listings and this will effectively rob them of international site visibility.  I can't work out if that is an eBay punishment, oversight, or plain-and-simple short-sightedness.

This entire unhappy affair can only result in bad news for reader and vender alike.  There is bound to be a loss of quality and variety of books for sale on eBay as, either venders migrate to more book-oriented venues, or they use eBay to list only b-grade paperback stock, saving their good stuff for venues that don't penalise them.  If this happens the gradual erosion of quality stock will be accompanied by a gradual erosion of book-buying customers.

eBay, if it is serious about preventing p+p rip off, should have started at the cheap end where the practice is far more prevalent.  As it is, a lot of very slim paperbacks will be flying out at a very reasonable 99 pence but with a very unreasonable £2.75 post tag.  At <the edition> books below the weight of 200g unpacked, and which fall under the domestic tarrif 'large letter', are sent out without p+p charge.  All other books are already subsidised for domestic post, including books that require higher insurance.  What a shame eBay didn't consult its honest book venders before such a clumsy and damaging policy was rolled out.

Happy Reading,

dene october

<comic grading guide>

For the sake of consistency in describing comic books, <the edition> deploys the gradings system favoured by Comics Price Guide.

MINT GRADES
gem mint: 10.0  /  mint: 9.9
Near perfect. Particularly rare to find books earlier than 1990 in such fine condition.
There is no surface wear and the cover is bright and without loss of lustre. There is no writing without or within. Corners point and are without crease. Internally tight bright and clean.

NEAR MINT+ GRADES
near mint/mint : 9.8 /  near mint : 9.6
Near to mint comics may have minor defects, typically slight stress lines by the staples.  The cover may have minor loss of colour ink (it may be chipped or flaked in older books) however it will not be faded. However the staples are rust free.  Corners may be slightly blunted.
There may be minor bindery tears (less than 1/16 inch) and superficial binding and/or printing defects. Internally as new, possibly with neat arrival dates either stamped or written in pencil or ink.
According to Comic Price Guide, notations on the cover or the inside are seen a bonus by collectors as they help provide provenance.

NEAR MINT GRADES
near mint: 9.4  / near mint - : 9.2
Colours are vibrant and pages are clean tight and supple to the touch. There may be some minor stress lines, no larger than 1/4 inch, at the spine but this does not break the colour surface. There may be some minor discoloration of the staples. Internal pages may be slightly off white.

VERY FINE GRADES
very fine-near mint: 9.0 / very fine + : 8.5 / very fine: 8.0 / very fine - : 7.5
Has been read but handled with care. There are some defects, such as a small cover fold or crease. There may be some marks on spine. The cover may have some chipping or slight surface wear but also keeps its original gloss.

FINE GRADES
fine-very fine: 7.0 / fine + : 6.5 / fine: 6.0 / fine - : 5.5
This has been well-read.  The comic may have a major defect such as a piece out of the cover or a tear up to one inch long. There may be many stress lines around the staples as well as creases due to opening and closing the cover.  Internal pages may have age tone, but are not brittle. The spine may be rolled and there may be some colour loss or minor soiling. There may be minor tears and folds, and the cover may have loosened by one staple. An otherwise Very Fine comic, but with a tape repair to the internal cover, may be graded as Fine.

VERY GOOD GRADES
very good- fine: 5.0  /  very good + : 4.5  / very good: 4.0 /  very good  - :3.5
A complete copy, but with major creases, spine roll, loss of cover gloss.  Internal pages may be yellow with small pieces missing. There may be a piece missing from the cover no larger than ½ inch. May be scuffed and soiled, but is still a readable copy.

GOOD GRADE
good - very good: 3.0  / good: + : 2.5 / good: 2.0  / good - : 1.8
A readable copy with many of the above defects, but no missing pages.

FAIR GRADE
fair - good : 1.5  /  fair: 1.0
Copy is heavily worn and tattered. Will have all pages and most of the covers. Heavy creases and folds with low paper quality. Spine and cover may be split and staples may be missing. Copy may be brittle. Tape repair may be extensive.

POOR GRADE
poor: 0.5
Many major defects potentially with mildew, cover abrasion, heavy defacing with paints etc. Inside pages may be extremely brittle.

<book grading guide>

The following is the system used for grading books ~

New  ~ New unread copy.  There may be slight signs of storage / shelving.  This is the condition you would expect to find in a high street bookstore or on mail-order.

Fine ~ The book appears to be in excellent condition.  Tight bright and clean.  Appears almost as new.  A closer look may reveal some light signs of previous ownership, such as shelf-rubbing.  On the whole, the book is in perfect condition.

Very Good + ~ Less than excellent condition with no more than minor signs of previous ownership.  Still a tight bright and clean copy, with no reading crease to the spine.

Very Good ~ The book is used but well looked after: it does show some signs of previous ownership.  The binding is firm and the book is clean. There may be some age toning / foxing to pages, slight reading creases to spine or cover, or inscriptions from the previous owner (typically their name or words of presentation).

Good  ~ The book is well used with obvious signs of ownership: the cover and contents may have faded in colour and there may be creases, wear and inscriptions.  However the book is still intact and perfectly readable.

Reading copy ~ The book has obvious defects such as looseness or other problems associated with age and / or mishandling.  However all pages are accounted for, and the book is still an acceptable reading copy.

Poor ~ A book described as in poor condition may have more value in relation to its collectibility than its readability.  The condition will vary from book to book: one may be badly worn but intact, while another may have missing pieces or pages.  Please pay particular attention  to the description in the listing.

N.B. where a double grading is given, the latter refers to the dust-jacket, wrapper or cover

This grading guide is updated monthly to save you scrolling through archives. 

<in this issue>

01 <foreword>

02 <komikos - comic book grades>

03 <book grading guide>

04 <in this issue>

05 <biblio-key: book glossary>

06 <book worm>

07 <briefing: book trends>

08 <thematic: identify the edition themes>

09 <feature story: book clinic>

---------------------------------------- NEXT PAGE 

10 <fiver: hairpiece>

11 <feature: deepak chopra>

12 <post+pack tariff>

13 <gift wrap>

14 <bespoke packaging>

15 <book search>

16 <cover story>

17 <endnotes>

<biblio-key: xx>

xx

pic 1

<biblio-key: glossary of book terms>

further book terms can be found in earlier issues of the edition