All orders have a base shipping rate of $7.50 to NON RD addresses and $10.90 for RD addresses. We do not mail internationally or to PO Boxes.

All of our books are packaged with care.

Unfortunately, we do not currently offer international shipping.

We cannot ship to a PO Box since we use a courier. Please provide a physical address when ordering.

The definitions below are for reference only. If you would like clarification on any term, please contact us directly for further information.

As New: The book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. This may not account for age, for example an 50-year old book could be considered “as new”, though its 50-years old. You would expect a unmarked, tight bound, never shelved, thumbed or even opened.

Fine: A Fine book approaches the condition of as new, but without being crisp. The book may have been opened and read, but there are no defects to the book, jacket or pages. This is considered a perfect collectors copy.

Very Good (VG): Describes a book that shows some small signs of wear – but no tears – on either binding or paper. Any defects will be noted.

Good (G): Describes the average used worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects will be noted.

Fair: Worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. Binding, jacket (if any), etc., may also be worn. All defects will be noted.

Poor: Describes a book that is sufficiently worn. This copy may be soiled, scuffed, stained or spotted and may have loose joints, hinges, pages, etc.

Binding Copy: Sometimes used to describes a book in which the pages or leaves are perfect but the binding is very bad, loose, off, or non-existent.

Reading Copy: Used to describe a book that ordinarily may be rare or collectable, but is currently is poor enough condition that it is next to worthless to a collector, and can be used as a throw-away reading copy.

A large vocabulary of descriptor words are used when describing books, here is a selection of more commonly use terms.

Bowed – A condition of the covers or boards of a hard cover book. Bowed covers may turn inward toward the leaves or outward away from the leaves. The condition generally results from a rapid change in the level of moisture in the air and is caused by different rates of expansion or contraction of the paste-down and the outer material covering the board.
Chipped -Used to describe where small pieces are missing from the edges of the boards or where fraying has occurred on a dust jacket or the edge of a paperback.

Dampstained – A light stain on the cover or on the leaves of a book caused by moisture such as a piece of food or perspiration. Generally not as severe as water stains.

Darkening or Fading -When book covers are exposed to light, the color darkens or becomes more intense.

Dogeared – The corner of a page or cover that has be folded over from misuse causing a crease or permanent curving of the corner sections.

Chipping – Usually on the dust jacket, the leading edges can suffer damage from mishandling or poor storage. This causes the cover image/artwork to chip off small pieces, causing a rough edge or corner.

Edge worn -Wear along the edges of hardback book covers.

Ex-library – the book was once owned by, and circulated in, a public library. This book could well be in any of the above general categories but more often than not has been well used. May have library stickers, stamps, or markings. Any former library book must be marked ex-library.

Foxed / Foxing – Brown spotting of the paper caused by a chemical reaction, generally found in 19th century books, particularly in steel engravings of the period.

Loose – The binding of a new book is very tight; that is, the book will not open easily and generally does not want to remain open to any given page. As the book is used, the binding becomes looser until a well-used book may lay flat and remain open to any page in the book.

Price Clipped -The price has been clipped from the corner of the dust jacket. Usually done by book sellers after a title has expired and cleared from the shelves. The corner of the dust jacket is clipped off and returned to the distributor for a refund. The book is often destroyed or passed on to various traders and resellers.

Shaken – An adjective describing a book whose pages are beginning to come loose from the binding.

Shelf Wear -The wear that occurs as a book is placed onto and removed from a shelf. It may be to the tail (bottom) edge of the covers as they rub against the shelf, to the dust jacket or exterior of the covers (when no dust jacket is present) as the book rubs against its neighbours, or to the head of the spine which some use to pull the book from the shelf.

Sunned – Faded from exposure to light or direct sunlight.

Tight – The binding of a new book is very tight; that is, the book will not open easily and generally does not want to remain open to any given page. As the book is used, the binding becomes looser until a well-used book may lay flat and remain open to any page in the book.

Worming, Wormholes – Small holes resulting from bookworms (the larvae of various beetles). Highly unlikely to be sold by us, depending on the rarity of the book.

Please note, we do not offer refund or returns on second-hand books unless you have received the wrong product mistakenly. All sales are final, so we highly recommend you contact us if you have any questions or concerns about your purchase. We are more than happy to provide further evaluation of the condition of a book, as well as further photos or even video.

We are seeking donations of good, clean books for our store in the Central Hawke’s Bay area. We will collect and supply boxes if needed. Contact us at info@bigriverbooks.co.nz

We are currently looking for modern fiction novels and comics from all genres. Hardback and paperbacks all appreciated.