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rockmaple - To me 'cracked' is not as severe as 'broken'. I then to think of the latter as being where the spine of the cover is loose or detatched from the textblock vs. where the webbing shows at the crack. However, I am far from knowlegable about the finer points and had hoped someone with some expertise would answer you. Perhaps if you started a thread on Book Flaws and Repairs or something of that nature it would garner some replies as well as stimulate discussions of other terms and repairs.
From the Collected Works of Bookseller Hints . . .
How do those dealers manage to identify first without carrying around a copy of McBrides? What's the secret? The remarks below are what book dealers know ... even if they don't know that they know it. One can identify most firsts by process of elimination, and never need to carry around a guide. It does assume some knowledge, but not much. And, there are exceptions to every single "rule".
First Edition Identification in the Field:
1) Eliminate Bookclubs and Reprint Publishers. Since these are almost never first editions and they seem to be everywhere, one needs to eliminate them. All the DJs without prices and all the books with a blindstamp in the lower right corner of the rear board are gone.
Same story with Reprint Publishers. No need to memorize a list, just gradually let it seep in that 99% of the books published by Grosset & Dunlap, Blue Ribbon, Triangle, etc are reprints and cannot be firsts. As you hear about other Reprint Publishers, simply file them away in your head as producers of books that aren't firsts.
2) Eliminate obvious later printings. Books that state "second printing" or later on the copyright page and books with numberlines that don't go down to "1" or letter lines that don't go down to "A" are out the door. This wipes out a very large number of books because many, if not most publishers do indicate later printings. They may not indicate what a first is, but they often go to the trouble of signifying 2nds, 3rds, etc. On some books they even state the (later) printing on the dust jacket!
For older books, it is necessary to check for a date on the title page and compare it to the date on the copyright page. If they are the same, its a first, if they are different its not a first.
3) Which one's are firsts? So, what's left? What's left is a much smaller group of books that might be first editions. Publishers who "state" that a book is a first do so in a variety of ways. They might say "First edition" or "first printing" or "first published in month/year." Doesn't matter what form it takes, these are all firsts! ...or at least firsts of that edition.
Now, what's left is a few handfuls of books where there is nothing on the copyright page. There is no indication of whether the book is a first or not. To reduce this pile a little bit, it is necessary to learn at least two publishers: Doubleday always states first. Scribners always uses the letter "A" under the copyright date line. (Reiterating here that there are exceptions to every rule).
The number of books left now is really quite small. But, guess what. Each one has a 50% or better chance of being a first -- probably closer to 70-80% (as a guess). So, buy it if its in nice condition and its cheap.
Disclaimer. All of the above is common sense and only requires a very small amount of knowledge. There are quite a large number of exceptions though to everything above. You can reduce the number of "non-first" purchases by gradually learning the quirky practices of the thousands of publishers.
[Psthomas]
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