The Dictionary of the Book: A Glossary for Book Collectors, Booksellers, Librarians, and Others

The Dictionary of the Book is a must-have title for librarians, booksellers, collectors, and students of the book arts and book history, with over 700 new entries and illustrations. It covers all areas of book knowledge, including the book as a physical object, typeface terminology, paper terminology, printing, book collecting, cataloging, book design, bibliography, physical condition, pricing, buying and selling, auctions, items one will see at antiquarian book fairs, preservation and conservation issues, and the notion of restoration. It also contains an extensive bibliography and over 200 images.

Format: Hardback
Length: 574 pages
Publication date: 16 January 2023
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Named a Library Journal Best Reference of 2023, this ambitious and entertaining update to The Dictionary of the Book solidifies Bergers volume as a must-have title for librarians, booksellers, collectors, and students of the book arts and book history. This new edition adds more than 700 new entries and many new illustrations, bringing the vocabulary and theory of bookselling and collecting into the modern commercial and academic world, which has been forced to adjust to a new reality. The definitive glossary of the book covers all the terms needed for a thorough understanding of how books are made, the materials they are made of, and how they are described in the bookselling, book collecting, and library worlds. Every key term—more than 2,000—that could be used in booksellers catalogs, library records, and collectors descriptions of their holdings is represented in this dictionary. This authoritative source covers all areas of book knowledge, including the book as a physical object, typeface terminology, paper terminology, printing, book collecting, cataloging, book design, bibliography as a discipline, bibliographies, and bibliographical description, physical condition and how to describe it, calligraphy, language of manuscripts, writing implements, librarianship, legal issues, parts of a book, book condition terminology, pricing of books, buying and selling, auctions, items one will see at an antiquarian book fair, preservation and conservation issues, and the notion of restoration. Key figures, presses/publishers, and libraries in the history of books, book collecting clubs and societies, how to read and decipher new and old dealers catalogs, and much more. The Dictionary also contains an extensive bibliography—more than 1,000 key readings in the book world—that provides a comprehensive overview of the book world's literature, history, and culture.

Weight: 1668g
Dimension: 290 x 226 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538151327
Edition number: 2nd Edition