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Uh-oh... Have I been trimmed? Crime Suspenstories 15
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Have I been trimmed?   

18 members have voted

  1. 1. Have I been trimmed?



28 posts in this topic

Was scanning the ten books that I was about to send to Florida for an extended vacation when all of a sudden I got a weird feeling on one of the Crime Suspenstores 15... 

I am basing it on my perception that the bottom of the book is wider than the top. 

So... has it been trimmed?  What do you think? 

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Edited by Buzzetta
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54 minutes ago, comicquant said:

Can you take a close up of the cross section? As in, if the book is trimmed, a picture of the face of the cut.  Could just be a bad production cut.

Forgive me - I don’t understand what you mean...

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Quant means a closeup of the cut edge so you can see how the individual page edges line up / stack up.  

I just bought and returned a trimmed book.  The edge was very sharp compared to the other edges. Also, the book measured nearly 1/8 thinner in width than another copy of the book in my collection.  The book had also been extensively and carefully color touched and tears glued. Nicely done restoration I suppose, thought I was upgrading a rare Cole book, so it was a heartbreaker.  The dealer was totally cool and gave me a refund. The resto was good enough that you had to hold the covers up to the light to see the tear seals.  All in all a very educational experience.

And yes I have plenty of books that aren't square due to crooked production cuts.

Also, line the ruler up along the cut edge.  Is it straight?  I don't think I've ever seen a production cut edge that wasn't straight.  It might not be at right angles at the corners, but the blade itself should cut straight.  If it's crooked I think that's a sign of trimming.  I could be wrong about that though.. curious to hear others' thoughts.

Oh, and cool book by the way!

Edited by Black Bat
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58 minutes ago, comicquant said:

Whipped up a little image of what I was talking about...  Taking a picture from this angle to see if the edge is completely blunted.  There can be variations to how a book was trimmed but this is one of the first things I look for when I suspect trimming.

1013377668_Screenshot2020-05-2810_29_41.thumb.png.7d83610b2426d821c303c1bec79bf9d2.png

Also the face of the book might even point 'inwards' and be untrimmed, as I have issues that have the pages in the opposite shape direction as shown above. Just in case your book does not look like either of the above examples.

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10 hours ago, comicquant said:

Whipped up a little image of what I was talking about...  Taking a picture from this angle to see if the edge is completely blunted.  There can be variations to how a book was trimmed but this is one of the first things I look for when I suspect trimming.

1013377668_Screenshot2020-05-2810_29_41.thumb.png.7d83610b2426d821c303c1bec79bf9d2.png

While this is a very good depiction of many trimmed books, it ony represents the edge of a book that has been ether "guillotined", that is, chop cut, front cover to back cover, all at one, or has been cut by a blade across the edge of the entire book, the covers, the pages, all in a continuous series of running the blade over and over until all the pages and covers are cut..

 

This square cut edge will not be reflective of a book that has had covers and pages cut individually! Sequentially. One or two at a time, front cover to back cover! trimming that way, an edge can be trimmed so that the result is the same fanned configuration. narrowest left to right at the covers, than gradually widening to the centerfold! 

 

So although this illustration is good for some, maybe most trimmed books, it is certainly not indicative of all. 

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On 5/27/2020 at 5:21 PM, Buzzetta said:

Was scanning the ten books that I was about to send to Florida for an extended vacation when all of a sudden I got a weird feeling on one of the Crime Suspenstores 15... 

I am basing it on my perception that the bottom of the book is wider than the top. 

So... has it been trimmed?  What do you think? 

css15c.jpg

css15d.jpg

IMG_8137.jpeg

IMG_8138.jpeg

Rest easy there. Not trimmed, IMO. 

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31 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

While this is a very good depiction of many trimmed books, it ony represents the edge of a book that has been ether "guillotined", that is, chop cut, front cover to back cover, all at one, or has been cut by a blade across the edge of the entire book, the covers, the pages, all in a continuous series of running the blade over and over until all the pages and covers are cut..

 

This square cut edge will not be reflective of a book that has had covers and pages cut individually! Sequentially. One or two at a time, front cover to back cover! trimming that way, an edge can be trimmed so that the result is the same fanned configuration. narrowest left to right at the covers, than gradually widening to the centerfold! 

 

So although this illustration is good for some, maybe most trimmed books, it is certainly not indicative of all. 

Yep, this is why I stated there can be variations of how a book is trimmed but its one of the first things I look for.  

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11 hours ago, comicquant said:

Whipped up a little image of what I was talking about...  Taking a picture from this angle to see if the edge is completely blunted.  There can be variations to how a book was trimmed but this is one of the first things I look for when I suspect trimming.

1013377668_Screenshot2020-05-2810_29_41.thumb.png.7d83610b2426d821c303c1bec79bf9d2.png

Very nice of you to do this - thank you 

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I didn’t want to jade anyone’s opinion.  My initial thought was that the top half of the book was trimmed. 

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4 hours ago, The Lions Den said:

I would agree. My initial reaction is that it's not trimmed. Of course, the experts at CGC may determine otherwise...  

True. There's no substitute for examining page ends with the book in hand, and being able to compare the edges against each other for consistency. And while a ruler may give an indication of an undersized book that warrants closer attention, that is, below average, it's by no means a definitive tool for detecting trim. 

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30 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

True. There's no substitute for examining page ends with the book in hand, and being able to compare the edges against each other for consistency. And while a ruler may give an indication of an undersized book that warrants closer attention, that is, below average, it's by no means a definitive tool for detecting trim. 

You're a wise man, JJJ...

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