As part of my effort to demystify the sometimes pretentious nature of the book collecting world I figured I’d better start, as all good things do, with words. There's no shortage of book-collecting glossaries knocking about but even they seem a little longwinded so I’ve sifted through some of them and made a shortlist of terms I’ve seen around and didn’t previously know the meaning of. As we’re still pretty early in this journey I for one haven’t yet pinned down the degree to which the terms described below add or detract value from a book but I’ll update this glossary as I learn more and meanwhile invite any of you who already know the answer to email us on hello@wowgstaad.com.

Backstrip - The material used by the binder to reinforce the sheets in the binding of the spine.

Bibliophile - A lover of books. See A Gentle Madness by Nicholas Basbanes for a modern and amusing take on book collectors.

Book Plate (aka ex-libris) - A label of the book's owner. Bookplates can increase the value of a book given a prominent former owner or a collectible book plate designer, but may decrease a book's value if the same are not present.

Bumping - When the corners or the spine ends of a book have been damaged.

Contemporary Binding - A binding that was placed on a book at or around the time of publication. While almost all modern books come pre-bound, until the mid-nineteenth century, books were published unbound, or in hard paper wrappers or boards, which the buyer would have custom bound, often to match the rest of his or her library.

Edition - an edition is all of the copies of a book printed from the same type setting, all at once or even over a period of time, without major changes, although minor changes, may be made and are still considered as part of the same edition. Collectors and booksellers describe the differences in the same edition as different states or issues.

First Edition - The first printing of a book, created from the first type setting. Although a librarian may refer to this term for any of the printings of a book done from the first type setting, booksellers and collectors use the term in a different manner, refrring only to the very first printing. First Editions of books usually sells at a premium to subsequent print-runs and the better the condition the higher the premium.

Foxing - Brown or beige blotches in the paper caused by impurities in, or the low quality of, the paper. One imagines that this decreases a book’s value as would ghosting - see below.

Frontispiece - An illustration, frequently an engraving, opposite the title page.

Ghost - A discolouration of the surface due to tape, sticker, or glue, which have chemically reacted with the paper.

Half Bound - A book in which the spine and corners have been bound in one material (frequently leather or vellum) and the remainder bound in another material (frequently cloth, card, or paper).

Impression - All copies of a book printed in the same printing

Inscribed - When an author or figure associated with a book writes more than just their signature (e.g. "To Thomas, with greatest appreciation”). One imagines this would be more or less valuable depending on who the owner, author, or inscriber is and what they’ve inscribed (presumably more valuable than the above example would be if the inscription was from a powerful country’s president and read: “To Thomas, I couldn’t have run the country without your help”

ISBN - A unique identifying number used in more than 150 countries to identify books published after the late 1960s.

Shelf-Wear - Damage in the form of slight scratches to a book or dust jacket due to being shelved next to other books which have not been adequately protected.

Starting - When the hinges or the joints are beginning to tear or separate.