SSL Certificates

• Mint: New, Right from the publisher, No defects (Includding no sales tags or stickers on or in the book.), Unread. Dust Jacket or other paraphernalia is present with no defects (if originally came with the book).
• Near Mint: Close to new, Unread, No defects (Includding no sales tags or stickers on or in the book.), Dust Jacket or other paraphernalia is present with no defects (if originally came with the book).

  Mint and Near Mint books are the pristine conditions and most of the time its hard to tell one from the other. They are so close in fact that some sellers only use Mint. At LughnassadhBooks.com we use Near Mint for the pristine used books and Mint for the pristine new books.

• Very Fine: Defects are at a minimum to non-existent but the book has been read once or twice.

  A Very Fine Condition book is essentially a Near Mint Condition book that has been read or thumbed through once or twice, but does not show any signs of shelf wear. It is acceptable to have an author's dedication to the original owner or for the author to have flat-signed^[1] the book. There is one exception to this rule: if the publisher has the author flat-sign a number of books, then seals them individually for sale^[2], this makes the book a Near Mint or Mint Condition book. Of course, as soon as the seal is broken, the book is devalued. Defects from the publisher/printers can put an unread or otherwise undamaged book in the Very Fine catagory. A folded page, an untrimmed edge, a banged or bent corner can all degrade the value of a Near Mint or Mint Condition book to Very Fine Condition.
  
  Sometimes publisher/printer mishaps don't degrade the condition of a book. In fact, sometimes they can increase the value of a book. Examples of these kinds of valuable mistakes include a wrong dust jacket shipped with the book, wrong picture in the book, misquoted info, etc. Figuring out what is and what is not the kind of mishap that will increase the value of a book often takes quite a bit of research, but it can be worth it when you discover that book is worth three to ten times the ordinary value of a book of that age in that condition.

• Fine: Close to new, showing signs of age but without any major defects, the dust jacket may have some minor tears.

  A Fine condition book is a used book that shows signs of wear and being read without any major damage to any given part. Most books right off the store shelves are in this condition, as they are handled by multiple people before they are purchased. The book has to have all the parts, like the dust cover or other paraphernalia, that originally came with it.

  Acceptable damage for this condition is very minor, like
  • - small tears in the dust jacket,
  • - the name of the original owner being written once in the book,
  • - if a paperback, it may have a small fold in the cover,
  • - a few dog-eared pages
  but not any two of these defects and not excessive amounts of any of them. Usually. As always, there are exceptions and bends in the rules.

• Near Fine: Shows signs of age and use but without any major defects, the dust jacket may have some minor tears.

  Near Fine condition is a sub-grade of Fine condition, somewhere between Very Good and Fine. The same conditions apply as in the Fine but the acceptable damage can include any two of the above list but still not excessively. (Example: the name of the original owner written on the front fly page and a corner folded on the cover of a paperback book.)

• Very Good: Indicates a used book that shows some sign of wear but still has no defects.

  Well, that's not entirely accurate. There are acceptable allowances of defects in books before they are downgraded to "Good" condition. In textbooks, most notably collage textbooks, it is acceptable for up to 40% of the book to be highlighted in up to three colors and have the name of the original owner written on the inside before it is classified as only Good. Also a Very Good condition book may not have a dust jacket present. This does subtract from the price though, as a dust jacket can be 40% of a book's pricing value. Having highlighting in a textbook can drop the value of a book by 20%.

  A book in "Very Good" condition may have no major defects. May or may not have have a dust cover or other paraphernalia that came with the book. Covers present and whole. All pages accounted for. Pages may be starting to brown. A name or gift dedication is noted in the description. There may be some minor rips or tears in a couple of pages. May contain publisher's defects or minor shelf wear. Defects are listed.

• Good: The clasic description of "Good condition" is: The average well-enjoyed book, shows normal wear and aging, still complete, may have some minor repairs such as taping of small rips.
  In this description everything seems self-explanatory but I got curious after one person asked for a clarification on the "still complete" portion of the descrition, so I asked a librarian friend. According to my expert friend, "still complete" refers to the body and cover of a book. The dust jacket (book wrapper) does not need to be present. Also "normal wear and aging" needs to be clarified as it refers to the age of the book, because diferent methods of paper production will hold up better or degrade faster than others. A modern book with acid free paper is more durable than an older book with traditional wood pulp or rag paper. A paperback book produced in the late 20th century may not hold up as well as a its hard cover counterpart, but it will withstand every day use better than a book manufactured in the 19th century.

  A better, in-depth description (and how we classify our "Good" condition books) is:
  *The average well-read book. Shows normal wear and aging for the age of the book. The cover may be a little dirty and/or the pages may be browning, A small amount of foxing can be present (where in the book the foxing is occuring should also be noted). The body and cover are still complete and readable, may have some rips or tears, possibly missing an insignfigant page, may or may not have its dust jacket or dust jacket may be in poor condition. Can contain minor repairs such as taping of rips or a poor job of rebinding. The name of the original owner or a book plate may be on the inside of the cover or on a fly page. exLibris (Library Discards) books have the "Discard Stamp" or other markings to indicate the book has been removed from the library inventory. Defects are listed.*

• Fair: At LughnassadhBooks.com, we don't use the Fair condition rating. What many booksellers would call Fair condition is what we call Poor. Covers are present, all pages are accounted for, defects are listed. We don't have many books in this condition; mostly, we'll only sell a book that is in Poor condition if it is a book that is rare, if it is part of a set, or if it is just one of those books that is hard to find.
• Poor or Reading Copy: A book in "Poor" condition, or a "Reading Copy" as it is called by some collectors, a book that is concedered good for reading only. It has major defects like missing covers, missing or ripped pictures, writting or coloring on multiple pages. The book usually has all its text, although pages may be loose and out of order, and is still readable. There is a grade that is maybe a half-step up from "Poor" condition, which is called "Fair". This grade refers to a book that is in Poor condition but still has its covers attached.

• Shelf wear: (or as I am constanly misspelling it shelf ware) is what happens to a book when it is pulled off a shelf and put back, or in a box, over and over again. Frayed edges of the cover, banged corners, miner rips in the dust jacket or a page, the wearing off of color on the cover, and the breakdown of the top and bottom of the spine. We at LughnassadhBooks have two grades of "Shelf Wear," Major and Minor. Major is when all defects that can happen have happened, at least to some degree. Minor is when the defects are just starting to show. Once the shelf wear gets to the major degree it is usually down graded to Ok/Poor condition.
• ^[1] A flat-signed book is one that has the authors signature with out a personal note or dedication.
• ^[2] The individualy sealed books are also usualy numbered. (ex. 202 out of 1000).

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