Medium Rare Books is the place to start when searching for a specific used book.
 Book Collecting
True book collecting is distinct from casual book ownership and the accumulation of books for reading. Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given individual collector. The love of books is bibliophilia, and someone who loves to read, admire, and collect books is a bibliophile. The term bookman, which once meant a studious or scholarly man, now means one who writes, edits, publishes, or sells books. A book dealer is one whose profession is the buying and reselling of rare or used books.
 Book collecting can be easy and inexpensive: there are millions of new and used books, and thousands of bookstores. Only the wealthiest book collectors pursue the great rarities: the Gutenberg Bible, and Shakespeare's First Folio, for example, are both famous and extremely valuable. Collectors of average means may collect works by a favorite author, first editions of modern authors, or books on a given subject. Book prices generally depend on the demand for a given book, the number of copies available, and their condition.
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Book Types:
 Album: A book for collections of memorabilia and photographs. - Diary: A book for writing daily events and information.
- Reference: A non-fiction book providing specific information is a book.
- Almanac: A reference book with information on many topics is called an
- Handbook: A reference book with tables or lists of data and information are
- Manual: A book with technical information about how to use equipment
- Encyclopedia: A book or set of books with articles on many topics.
- Dictionary: A book listing words, their etymology and meanings.
- Atlas: A book that is a collection of maps.
- Paperback: A book with a flexible cover that tend to be less durable.
- Galley: A pre-publication promotional copy or bound proof.
Book Categories:
- The Sciences
- Mathematics
 Modern - First Editions
- Biography
- Natural History
- Science Fiction
- Westerns
- The Arts
- Collectible
- Paperbacks
- Emphemera
Used Book Condition:
Booksellers use standard terms to describe the condition of the used books that they sell. The specific meaning of each term can vary with the individual seller but broad definitions are widely understood.
“As New” means that the book is in the state that it should have been in when it left the publisher. This is the equivalent of Mint condition in numismatics.
 Fine (F or FN) is As New but allowing for the normal effects of time on an unused book that has been protected. A fine book shows no damage.
Very Good (VG) describes a book that is worn but untorn. For many collectors this is the minimum acceptable condition for all but the rarest items.
Good (G) is (as an old bookselling joke has it) not very good. It is used to describes the condition of an average used worn book that is complete.
Fair shows wear and tear but all the text pages and illustrations or maps are present. It may lack endpapers, half title, and even the title page.
Poor describes a book that has the complete text but is so damaged that it is only of interest to a buyer who seeks a reading copy. If the damage renders the text illegible then the book is not even poor.
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