FF 40 is this trimmed? 1 1

[Doctor Dositheus]

So this was bought as part of a lot a couple years ago from, let's just say, one of the big Houses of Auction.
Getting ready to sell of some of my undercopies, I was counting pages, and some odd interior tears on the two innermost leaves got me looking at the edges a little closer.
The cover doesn't show much but I show it for completeness:


The rip that got me investigating:
}

Here's where it gets interesting. Some edge pics:

The look somewhat like bindery flaws, but the big one 2nd from the bottom has a small piece that extends beyond the rest of the edge:


^This picture above is what got me suspicious. That doesn't look like normal chipping to me.^

Any thoughts or opinions?

[Artboy99]

It is almost impossible to tell if the book is trimmed by looking at a book in pictures on the internet.

It could just be a badly cut book at the manufacturing stage as the Marvel cutters at that time period were terrible ( they are the reason for all the Marvel chipping ).

Some potential tests you can do. Hold the book up so you are looking along where the folded pages meet. It should form a shape like this:

cover |/\| cover

The folded interior pages should make a peak, if the book has a significant spine roll then the pages do not form a peak, but your book appears to not have a spine roll.

No interior page peak then it is either trimmed, or badly miscut at the manufacturing stage

[Doctor Dositheus]

On 5/1/2023 at 6:06 PM, Artboy99 said:

It is almost impossible to tell if the book is trimmed by looking at a book in pictures on the internet.

It could just be a badly cut book at the manufacturing stage as the Marvel cutters at that time period were terrible ( they are the reason for all the Marvel chipping ).

Some potential tests you can do. Hold the book up so you are looking along where the folded pages meet. It should form a shape like this:

cover |/\| cover

The folded interior pages should make a peak, if the book has a significant spine roll then the pages do not form a peak, but your book appears to not have a spine roll.

No interior page peak then it is either trimmed, or badly miscut at the manufacturing stage

I appreciate the feedback! There is definitely no V edge on this book. It is all very flush and very rough.





I'm not looking to point fingers or hold anyplace accountable. It was part of a cheap lot purchased 2 years ago that had other books I was interested in, and it was always my intention to sell this one. I just would feel bad passing this off to somebody else on E Bay without disclosing that it might be trimmed, reader copy only.

[JollyComics]

This is not a sought book that doesn't intend to be trimmed like any major or mega key issues were intended to be trimmed.   I think your book has a bad miscut.

[Doctor Dositheus]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:02 PM, JollyComics said:

This is not a sought book that doesn't intend to be trimmed like any major or mega key issues were intended to be trimmed.   I think your book has a bad miscut.

Thanks for the response! My thinking now is to just list it as "possibly miscut or trimmed, buyer beware", and pricing it as a reader copy just to get rid of it. It's not like the rest of it is in great shape anyway.

[LowGradeBronze]

Not sure you need to frighten the horses with Buyer Beware: Possible Trimming. I think that 'this copy exhibits manufacturing issues typical of the period' and a picture would do just fine. It's not especially low grade either. Looks roughly 5.0 to me. 'Faults are consistent with grade' is another phrase you could use. Or just simply sold as seen. Good luck! 

[Kevin76]

It's not after production trimmed, it's from a dull blade during production