Book Glossary – U, V, W

Have you ever been confused when buying a book online thanks to all of the peculiar abbreviations and terminology? I know that I certainly have, and it’s a source of irritation when I have to go traipsing around the Internet in order to find out what each thing actually means. Because of this, I have decided to attempt to create a comprehensive list; an ‘A-Z of Books’, if you will. Hopefully, you will find this new feature informative enough so as not to need to go anywhere else.

U

• Uncut – Edges of a book which are left raw instead of being trimmed.

V

• Vellum – A type of parchment/paper made from animal skin (usually that of a calf). It iwas primarily used in the middle ages in single pages for writing and printing, as well a the as material for binding books.

W

• Woodcut – An early method of illustration dating back to 8th century China. A picture or some text is carved into a piece of wood which is then rolled over with an ink and pressed onto a surface in order to make a print.