What Constitutes a "Medium" Spine Split? 0

[Yale Stewart]

Hello! I was looking through grader's notes on a book and one note listed was "medium spine split." I was wondering what constitutes a "medium" spine split. I'd also be curious what qualifies as a "small" or "large" spine split. I was actually rather surprised that an objective measurement wasn't provided, so thought I'd ask. Any insight would be helpful! Thanks so much!

[Jennifer F.]

Good morning,

Thank you for your message.  I checked with our graders on this and there is no quantified measurements for these terms but generally speaking a small split would be around 1" or less, a medium split would be around 1" to 4" and a large split could be up to the entire length of the spine. A fully split spine, however, would be noted as such on the label.  Please be aware that these are just generalizations and you may find some examples that differ in length slightly.  

If you have any other questions, please let us know.  Thank you!

[Yale Stewart]

@Jennifer F. Thank you so much for the response! That's very helpful. I did have one further question, but let me provide it as an example, because I'm not sure how to simply ask it:

Let's say you have a comic, and it has a spine split from the bottom of the spine to a length ABOVE the bottom staple, thus detaching the cover from that staple. Would the cover detachment also be noted, or simply the spine split? I hope that makes sense.

These are the grader's notes on the book I'm referring to (#1294483001), if that helps any:

medium chip out right top of back cover
medium split bottom of spine
moderate creasing to cover
moderate wear spine
multiple writing back cover
small, multiple tear back cover

[Jennifer F.]

Good morning,

Generally, we would not use the term "detached" unless it was fully detached.  If the book was still attached further up on the spine then it would simply be listed as a spine split. 

Thank you!

[Yale Stewart]

@Jennifer F. Interesting. I've seen grader's notes that list when a cover is detached from a single staple, though. 

[djzombi]

On 2/4/2022 at 1:42 PM, Yale Stewart said:

@Jennifer F. Interesting. I've seen grader's notes that list when a cover is detached from a single staple, though. 

In that case, there would be no split.  The cover would have been pulled off at that staple.  

[Yale Stewart]

On 2/5/2022 at 12:53 PM, djzombi said:

In that case, there would be no split.  The cover would have been pulled off at that staple.  

Right, but whether the spine is split past the staple or the cover has just been pulled off of the staple, the cover is still detached at that staple. It's just that you can have a split spine with the cover still attached at both covers.