Book Collecting & Romance Publishing Terminology

This page is under way but incomplete — more coming soon!

  1. ABAA (The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America): A professional organization for rare booksellers that represents and promotes ethical professionalism in the trade. Book collectors often limit their purchasing of high-priced books, especially those with signatures or notable provenance, to booksellers who belong to ABAA so they can be certain of the authenticity of what they’re purchasing. Currently, there aren’t many ABAA-member book firms that sell romance, much less specialize in it. The one exception to this is Type Punch Matrix. Hopefully there will be more in the near future
  2. Annotated Copy: A copy of a book with hand-written notes or marks such as underlining or highlighting anywhere within in it that were added after the book was published. The notes may have been added by the author, a scholar, a commentator, or a basic reader. In recent years it’s become a thing for some romance authors to donate annotated copies of their books for fundraising events and auctions. The value of such books depends on how popular the book and author are. For someone doing research on romance readers from the 1960s, a reader-annotated romance from that era could be informative.
  3. Antiquarian: In a book setting, this describes anything relating to or dealing with rare books
  4. Association Copy: A specific copy of a book that belonged to a note-worthy person. The person can be famous for any reason, or simply someone with significance to the book, the author, or the culture surrounding it. For instance, a well-known romance blogger might have a copy of a romance to which they referred repeatedly in their blog. It might be a thrill for someone who is a fan of the blogger to own that specific copy, especially if there’s some notation in it indicating that ownership, such as the owner’s name or annotations. Establishing that a book is an association copy often involves “Provenance.” Whether or not the association increases a book’s value in highly subjective.
  5. Bibliography/Descriptive Bibliography:
  6. Bodice Ripper
  7. Book Club Edition
  8. Bookplate:
  9. Category Romance
  10. Clinch Cover
  11. Clipped/Price Clipped
  12. Condition
  13. Contemporary Romance
  14. Edition
  15. Facsimile Signature: A copy of an author’s signature in a book, often reproduced to appear as though the author actually hand-signed it. Facsimile signatures add no value to a book, however, they are frequently misidentified by booksellers as the real thing and priced accordingly. One notable example of this is the 1975 Equinox edition of The Flame And The Flower. Woodiwiss’s signature appears at an angle on the front free end page, which is how and where she typically signed her books. A close examination of this signature across all copies of this edition reveals that it is perfectly exact on all copies — an impossibility when a signature is rendered by hand. Yet, when amateur sellers list it online it’s almost always identified as “Signed by Woodiwiss!” I’ve observed copies sell for close to $100 because of this. When it doubt about the authenticity of a signature, be sure the seller has a return policy, or limit your purchasing of high-priced signed editions to experienced sellers who follow ABAA’s code of ethics
  16. First Edition Thus, or First Thus
  17. Futuristic Romance
  18. Frontispiece: An illustration in a book that faces (is on the left page across from) the title page. Frontispieces are more common in vintage and antique editions than in contemporary novels, but they’re sometime in special editions, such as Classics Of Romance
  19. Gothic Romance
  20. Historical Romance
  21. Independently (Indie) Published: See “Self Published”
  22. Inscribed/Inscription:
  23. In The Wild: Any location where one can find used books that are not separated and priced based on the full value certain ones might realize online or in antiquarian retail settings. For instance, garage and estate sales, library book sales, little free libraries, and some used book stores can all be considered “in the wild.”
  24. ISBN: An acronym for “International Standard Book Number.” ISBNs are present on almost all books and have been since the 1970s. They are found on the copyright page and on back covers represented with a barcode, providing publishers, retailers, and libraries with an easy way to track books. Some collectors use them to manage large collections and to help them find desired titles. Searching for a desired edition of a book by ISBN can sometimes be effective, especially if there is only one printing or in situations where printing number or specific cover and book design don’t matter. However, it’s common for books to have the same ISBN across multiple printings and even multiple editions and designs; it isn’t included as an identifying feature on this website.
  25. Leaf/Leaves: The antiquarian term for the piece/pieces of paper (front & back) in a book on which the pages are printed.
  26. Mass Market Paperback
  27. Number Line
  28. Omnibus Edition: A single volume that contains multiple books or stories that were originally published separately by the same or multiple authors.
  29. Printing
  30. Provenance: A record of ownership. The provenance of a book can give it special significance to a collector that may or may not impact the book’s value. For instance, it might provide sentimental value to a collector that a copy of a book belonged to a great aunt, who passed it to the collector’s mother, who then gave it to the collector. If this line of ownership is documented in some way, anecdotally or with paper or digital sales receipts, letters, journals, photos, blog posts, emails, etc., this is a record of provenance. But it’s unlikely to matter to anyone other than the collector, unless the great aunt or mother were known to a broader audience as significant to the book, author, or culture surrounding the book, in which case this record of provenance would establish the book as an “Association Copy,” which could potentially increase its monetary or cultural/historical value
  31. Publisher
  32. Publisher Imprint
  33. Publisher Line
  34. Realized Price
  35. Remainder Mark: A mark on a book, usually on the underside of the page block, indicating that it didn’t sell at retail pricing and was returned to the publisher (AKA “remaindered”). The publisher then liquidated the remaindered copy at a steeply discounted price. The marks are typically made with permanent marker and are often red or black dots or slashes, although sometimes stamps are used. Some books that are remaindered become collectible later on. Depending on a book’s rarity and desirability, a remainder mark might decrease a copy’s value
  36. Romancelandia
  37. Romantasy: A blending or portmanteau of the words “romance” and “fantasy” identifying a subgenre in which the characteristics and expectations of the romance and fantasy genres are given equal weight in the story.
  38. Scope
  39. Self Published
  40. Series
  41. Signed: A copy of a book that has been hand-signed by the author. It may include writing in addition to the signature, such as the date and the location of the signing or general well wishes, or it might just be the signature, sometimes referred to as “flat signed.” If the author added the recipient’s name, this means the copy is “Inscribed.” Traditionally, flat signed copies are believed to carry the most value, but some collectors are (rightfully, in my opinion) challenging this notion.
  42. Trade Hardcover
  43. Trade Paperback
  44. Trope