Hurt copies: the student collector; the burgeoning conservationist

I have been sorting and organizing my stock and my "collection" in the last few days. When doing so one invariably comes upon what publishers like to call "the hurt copy": that copy which has a coffee stain from a loaded moustache during binding, the one with the water-stained cloth from an unseen spill during a customer visit, the copy that came back in the post after a month circling the country after you mailed out a replacement to a client who never got it, and the sun-stained. the question I have for other printers and presses, or anyone on this list: what is to be done with hurt copies?

They are still viable books capable of being enjoyed and read, studied hard, and live out their days as reading copies, lasting every bit of the 500 years their pristine counterparts will last. They can still teach. But one is likely to deign to send one out from the press when the stock of good copies is intact. It had me thinking about the budget collecting post that has been going on, and wondering how to get these copies to students strapped for cash, or even more appropriate, a budding conservationist who might want the challenge of repair or dissection, or as another model for a new binder, if she thought it worthy to have for that purpose.

I'm interested in any thoughts on this as I am currently trying to think of way to trim such stock.

I don't see anything wrong with a "scratch-and-dent" category, where titles are sold at a reduction and the buyer is aware that there will be blemishes or imperfections. I've seen other presses do the same, and it allows for informed buyers to make the choice, when they are more interested in having the volume regardless of its immacularity*.

* possibly not a real word

>2 Shadekeep: Indeed, and it may not be absolutely possible, but it would be nice to figure a way for such discounted copies to go to those who had the most financial need, or a particular 'research' interest.

>2 Shadekeep: I was curious, so I'll share the results--the current noun form is immaculacy.

>3 SuttonHooPress: Aye, that's the trickier bit. I don't know that there is any way to ensure that on a case-by-case basis. It would require some measure of knowledge about the purchaser. Unless the order came through an organisation, or perhaps an arts workshop on bookbinding and such.

>4 Watry: Ah, thanks! I was guessing solely from the root macule (and thus macular). Immaculacy does make sense now that I see it written out.

One other idea to exclude aftermarket profiteers from looking to obtain the reduced cost volumes would be to "cancel" them in some way, similar to how artists will cancel a printing plate or woodcut through deliberate damage and effacing. You could take a hole-punch to the cover and inflict damage which marks the book out as a "remaindered", without impacting the ability of the buyer to learn from the bookmaking arts contained within. And if the interior text is still solid, that can be used in a rebinding effort. Whatever the case, it is forever distinguished from the volumes sold in-series, and thus largely worthless to book-flippers.

>6 Shadekeep: Noted.

I wonder about what training centers there are now who, unlike Iowa which has a huge collection in their special collections, would have students to whom to make hurt copies available. I trained at Iowa, and friends have trained at Alabama, but I have been out of the academy for so long I don't know of any current small university, or handicraft schools who may not have large collections. Of course, I would happily provide the books for free to a student who made a convincing case of need, or to a school or workshop.

This is just some of the tedium I think about when I have 90 pages of type to distribute. . . . It's my problem, I know. . . .

>7 SuttonHooPress: I don't know of any places offhand, but I'm thinking there might be interest in places like the Virginia Center for the Book ( https://www.vabookcenter.org ).

As I say in my tea business, provenance matters. I remember this being a big deal in The Goldfinch, where it applies to validating an antiques worth, and where the word became a tool for me to use in selling and educating people about a commodity like tea. I believe this is something blockchain technology could help with but I'm not educated enough about it to know.

I'm against "remaindering" in the sense of further harming a scratch and dent copy of an edition in order to protect downstream buyers against book-jackers and -flippers. I'm definitely ok buying scratch and dent copies depending on the blemish. If it is a blemish or circumstance of the press itself, one thing that could happen is for the press to note that on their website or supply that information upon request. Downstream is more difficult and problematic as the more hands something passes through, the more difficult it is to ascertain provenance.

At the press/source, it could be as simple as copy #13 was bound with one signature upside down and sold by the press at a discount. Copy #99 of the Arion Press Leaves of Grass has a little bit of Kaelyn Davis' morning latte on the colophon and was shold by the press at a discount.

In the biggest instance of this that I'm aware of, the Folio Society should be able to supply an interested buyer the "official" 1000 numbers that were issued by them in the letterpress Shakespeare titles that were overzealously printed in and edition of 3750. Then you would know, if you actually care, that you are getting a "real" press released copy. Of course, the FS might not want to do that because they might have purposefully sold those extra copies and unbound sheets with an eye to their own bottom line and the profit of the buyer. Or those books not intended to be sold could have walked out the back door during the recent chaos of the descent of the society into what it is now. Who knows.

All of this is to say, provenance matters. And it's complicated. And I'm overthinking and procrastinating on other things I should be doing. And grifgon probably doesn't need another thing to do at his one-man private press while he's slacking on getting books shipped out by drinking my tea, ha ha. And no matter what, book flippers gonna find a way to flip.

>10 jveezer: Of course, if a conservator returned the copy to good condition and was done with it and wanted to pass it on for money or love, I would not have a problem with that as the pressman: that would be the point.

What did Kim tell us? . . . "Imperfection is incidental to the hand process." Every edition has warts, and we separate them out the best we can, but post-production blemishes are part of each book's soul. They carry them forward.

I want to shout out an anonymous THANK YOU to a member here who had a very good use for some hurt copies. Nice to be passing them along--just what I hoped would happen!

Why not simply sell them at a discount? I purchased a copy of the Taller Martin Pescador edition of Sir Gawain, with soiled and sun-faded covers, from their US distributor for something like half price. I don't see any need to protect downstream buyers via remainder marks, since the book is already obviously not in fine condition.

Just to clarify, I was suggesting remaindering the books as per the original request to ensure they ended up in certain hands, as was asked. The idea was that the remaindered books would be used as educational examples or material for rebinding exercises. If Chad simply wants to sell price-reduced scratch-and-dent books, that's fine too. But I was trying to propose ideas that supported his very specific desires.

I'm grateful for all of these good ideas. Thank you!

and I just discovered the Book Repair Group on LibraryThing--whoops.

>9 Shadekeep: Also UVA’s rare book school has conservation classes, you could DM JBD1, Jeremy who dies a lot of work on LT’s legacy library for info. He used to work there.