Contact 12: Does this have color touch and trimming? 0

[shortboxed]

I won this book off eBay recently and I immediately noticed that it looks like the front and back covers have been trimmed, as well as what looks to be color touch on the cover. No restoration was disclosed.

Thankfully, the seller has a 2-week full-return policy, but I'd like some other opinions first before I message the seller and request a refund. 

 

[comicjack]

Did you get it cheap that would be the first thing,if not I would return it . Trimmed black covers are common because of the black 

shows all defects but if the price was right I could overlook a classic cover on the cheap. A favorite sci fi cover of mine ever since I saw it on the dust covers on the Gerber photo journals.Measure the cover to see if isn't  just miss cut which could be the case"

Edited March 17, 2018 by comicjack

[Mystafo]

Eh, seeing what you paid for that thing I would certainly send it back...looks way too wonky to me. 

[Phill the Governor]

The standard giveaway of an amateur trim job is that the cut is uneven. If you put a ruler up to the cover and it doesn't run parallel with the ruler something is up. In more advanced trimming techniques it can still be spotted because the cut of the interior and cover match up perfectly together. It's hard to tell from the photos if it is indeed trimmed or if it's simply a book with off centered registration - which is common, especially for non-mainstream publishing companies during this time period.

[PovertyRow]

On 3/17/2018 at 9:56 AM, Mystafo said:

Eh, seeing what you paid for that thing I would certainly send it back...looks way too wonky to me. 

I agree with this. Even if it is miscut (that's really up in the air on this example) and those "smudges" on the cover are not color touch, you should be able to do better for that kind of money.

[Mr. Zipper]

It does not appear to be color touch... rather looks like some schmutz smeared. Secondly, color touch is usually is an area of flaws, e.g., spine creases, staples, corners, etc. It doesn't make much sense to have a color touch in a central area where there doesn't appear to be a flaw to "fix."

Not sure about possible trimming. My sense is it may simply be a bad production cut common in golden age books, but I'm not sure.