Can anyone help me identify trimming with this book? 0

[Glassjaw452]

Hi everyone 

I recently bought a copy of fantastic four 52. When it arrived it looked to me like it had been trimmed. I'm really concerned as I was planning to get this graded (I'm very new to grading) it took me so long to save to buy this book and so I would like to reach out to you all and see if anyone can see evidence of trimming. I suspect it has been trimmed down the right side of the cover. I know books are often mis wrapped during this era but I'm not sure if this falls in to that. And expertise anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. 

[Get Marwood & I]

It's never easy to tell from photos, and with books from this era which can have miscuts, varying cover dimensions and such. But I think it looks alright.

If you compare your copy to this copy on Heritage, you'll see that your copy has a wider cover width. On your copy, Sue and Ben's heads are partially obscured around the spine. In the Heritage copy, their heads are fully visible. Accordingly, as you would expect, your copy has slightly more right hand cover than the Heritage copy:

Your copy would have had to have quite a lot of 'additional' width to present badly enough to trim, if that makes sense, which would make it uncommonly wide were that the case, pre-trim.

But as I said, cover dimensions from the silver age can vary in size naturally during the printing process so I can't guarantee it. But I would place my bet on it (not being trimmed).

See what others think. 

[Glassjaw452]

That's a relief. I recently posted this on reddit and it got a mix bag of responses. It's so tough I have found another copy where Ben's elbow presses up against the edge and the faces are in the corner and folded round. But I have also seen copies that compensate for that by having a bigger gap between Ben's elbow and the edge. Thanks for taking the time to reply

[Get Marwood & I]

7 minutes ago, Glassjaw452 said:

That's a relief. I recently posted this on reddit and it got a mix bag of responses. It's so tough I have found another copy where Ben's elbow presses up against the edge and the faces are in the corner and folded round. But I have also seen copies that compensate for that by having a bigger gap between Ben's elbow and the edge. Thanks for taking the time to reply

Your welcome, and welcome.

Sure a few more members will chime in soon....

[The Lions Den]

I'm more suspicious of the Heritage copy than I am of your copy...

[theCapraAegagrus]

@James J Johnson

The inside of the back cover vs the inside of the front cover gives me pause. The back cover looks normal, but the edge of the front cover looks inconsistent in foxing.

[Get Marwood & I]

4 hours ago, The Lions Den said:

I'm more suspicious of the Heritage copy than I am of your copy...

...which wouldn't cover our hosts in glory, if true... 

[Qalyar]

From what we can see of these two copies, I don't have any reason to necessarily suspect trimming in either of them. Although, of course, trimming is hard to diagnose, especially with no book in hand.

That said, the Heritage copy has Ben's head well clear of the spine in the logo box. Meanwhile, the metallic debris above and to the right of Ben shows four circles and only the barest hint of a fifth. The OP's cover shows logo-Ben wrapped into the spine, but almost half of a fifth circle visible at right. Take a look at "Marvel" to see just how far to the left the OP's copy is shifted compared to the Heritage book. Miswraps, miscuts, and sizing inconsistencies are de rigeur for this period of books, but I don't see anything here that I'd consider a red-flag for trimming (although of course that doesn't preclude the possibility of other forms of restoration).

[Glassjaw452]

Thank you for that in depth reply. You're right it is so hard to detect and since posting this I have seen another copy that is similar to mine that is slabbed. I'm leaning more towards it not being trimmed and I'm glad because I'm so proud to own this book

[Callaway29]

Same disclaimers as everyone else, but I don't see anything of concern...

[James J Johnson]

8 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

...which wouldn't cover our hosts in glory, if true...