Booksellers Abbreviations - T, U, V, W & Y
Over 190 commonly used booksellers terminology and abbreviations. Abbreviations were commonly used in book ads and catalogs and although they are now out-dated, they did provided a useful and concise space saving description.WAF - With All Faults
T
TEG - Top Edge GiltTies - Tapes or ribbons for tying the volume closed.
Tipped in - Lightly fixed in along one edge only, most often refers to illustrations.
TLS - Typed letter, signed.
Tooling - Decoration applied with a hand tool.
TP - Title Page.
Tree Calf - A highly polished calf binding with a distinctive tree-like wood veneer pattern.
TS - Typescript.
U
Unbound - Never having been bound. As opposed to Disbound.Upper-case - A typesetting term that simply means capital letters.
V
V., VOL, VOLS - Volume/VolumesVariant - Copies of the same impression exhibiting unexplained variations.
Vellum - A highly durable treated calf skin of a natural creamy colour.
Verso - Back of the leaf. The left hand page in an open book. The front of the leaf is the recto.
VG - Very Good.
Vignette - A small illustration enclosed in a formal or decorative border.
VY - Various years.
W
W/O - WithoutWAF - With All Faults, sold 'as seen'.
Wraps - Paper covers.
Y
Yapp - Style of binding with flaps that overlap the page edges. Named after the Victorian bookseller of that name, who in about 1860 made use of such a binding. Often he is attributed with the invention of this type of binding, however examples are known from the beginning of the seventeenth century.Yellowbacks - Gaily coloured Victorian Books designed for display on railway bookstalls.