Grading Books

I bought five books from abebooks.com last week. So far I have received three of them. Two were obviously less than described; not so much that I feel I overpaid, but more than enough to be annoying. I wrote the two sellers in question, G. & J. Chesters and The Minnesota Bookman, that while I won't be bothering them with a return, they can expect that I won't be buying from them in the future. I went so far as to point the guy from the Land o' Lakes to Firsts' Grading Guide, given that what he described as "fine" and having "marginal staining" is really water and mildew damaged.

Of course, I'm not entirely without blame, as I stupidly treat abebooks like it's ebay and jump all over something when it catches my eye and interest. What I ought to do is send a few e-mails to confirm things like condition and publication date before firing away with the Magic Plastic.

On the upside, I've some new reading material, with two more to come!