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Hi John,

Are books bound upside down (front of cover is against back of book and upside down) more or less valuable that properly bound books?

Greg

John replies:

Hi Greg!

Unfortunately, it's not like the Inverted Jenny stamp or any philatelic misprint. It is esoteric and interesting but I doubt, and have not seen, any notable increase in value for improperly bound books.

When we receive them we return them to the publisher as "damaged." I have noted dust jackets with colors missing, and consider them as mistakes and not valuable errors.

On the other hand, books that have printing errors (misspelled words or erroneous references) are usually corrected in later printings or shipped with an errata sheet laid in. This is more valuable, for instance, Clancy's Patriot Games had several printing errors and once they were discovered, the remaining books were shipped with the errata sheet. The value for that book with the errata sheet is considerably higher than one without.

In the 1st edition of the Di Vinci Code by Dan Brown on page 243 has a misprint "skitoma" a word that is corrected in later editions. This misspelled word helps booksellers authenticate 1st printings of this book, and thus, it commands a higher price.

Thank you for your question,
John

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