61
votes
Has copy protection ever been used in physical books?
Look at it this way - the reason why companies need DRM is because digital files can always be copied verbatim, i.e. bit for bit. Companies cannot prevent files from being copied and re-distributed so ...
- 8,504
42
votes
Has copy protection ever been used in physical books?
This isn't against scanning specifically, but creators of ancient and medieval texts did attempt to protect their work against theft, vandalism and misattribution by writing curses on the book. You ...
- 529
32
votes
Has copy protection ever been used in physical books?
Back in the day, in the early 90s, I bought some software whose manual was printed on red paper, which was meant to discourage photocopying on black and white photocopiers. If you photocopied it, it ...
- 421
28
votes
How can I check that used or old books are in good condition before I purchase them?
I know the expression is "You can't judge a book by its cover," but in this case, you might be able to start there. :)
If you have time to look at each individual book for a minute or two, I would ...
- 832
26
votes
Has copy protection ever been used in physical books?
There's another version of DRM that you find in paper reference sources. (This where the data itself is not subject to protection.) Deliberately introduced harmless errors.
This does nothing to ...
- 361
22
votes
Accepted
What are these pink papers with book text written on them?
It's something to do with the splicing in of new paper rolls during the printing process.
I'll confess that I don't fully understand how it all works, but am confident I've tracked down something very ...
- 19.1k
17
votes
How can I check that used or old books are in good condition before I purchase them?
In addition to @anonymous2's excellent answer, look for water damage. Check for stains, on the pages, the outer binding, and the dust jacket if there is one. Look at the edges of the pages for mold ...
12
votes
Accepted
Meaning of "C.P." footnote
This is a signature mark.
I've often seen this in older bound hardback books, although the practice has passed out of use with more modern bookbinding techniques. Probably the copy of this book that ...
- 74.4k
12
votes
Has copy protection ever been used in physical books?
I'd say that the closest thing to copy protection that's ever included in physical books would be a Trap street.
These are fake elements included by cartographers in maps to catch people illegally ...
- 221
11
votes
How do I straighten out a paperback book's cover that is bent?
If the cover has creased, the layers of the paper will have separated and the fibres pulled out of alignment. The crease is then bulkier than the rest of the cover and stretched on the side it bends ...
- 19.1k
9
votes
Has copy protection ever been used in physical books?
I have heard of movie scripts being printed on red or dark brown paper to prevent photocopying on set. Photocopiers at the time only supported full black or white, so if a colour was closer to black, ...
- 191
9
votes
Accepted
Are these actually first editions?
Is this really a first edition? It depends on whether you ask a book collector or a book publisher.
The yellow book you are asking about is the first edition, fifth printing. The purple one is the ...
- 13.7k
8
votes
Has copy protection ever been used in physical books?
Many video game manuals have forms of copy protection in.
Some games require you to use a lookup sheet from the manual or similar. The lookup sheet is sometimes a decoder wheel (such as in Monkey ...
- 181
8
votes
How do you report stolen library books to the library?
I have not been in the situation of having books stolen before, but I have been in the position of reporting lost books several times. Most libraries I have encountered have a listed policy that if a ...
- 11k
7
votes
How to travel with paperback books without damaging them?
I also travel a lot with paperback books in a bag, and I've managed not to damage them too much by considering the problem as a geometrical/physical one, analysing the shapes and forces involved.
A ...
- 74.4k
7
votes
How was the black page made in Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy"?
Producing a black page in letterpress would be a simple matter in the original edition of Tristram Shandy. Illustrations were typically made using wood engraving, where a block of end-grain would, ...
- 3,195
6
votes
Should I keep the jacket on a hardcover book?
I don't believe dustjackets protect a book to a significant degree. But I am in favour of keeping them with the book.
Dustjackets are often prettier than the book.
The flaps of a dustjacket can be ...
- 664
6
votes
How to travel with paperback books without damaging them?
I carry mine in a sealable freezer bag (ziploc and the like). Water, food, etc. can't get in and the cover and pages can't separate to be peeled away.
6
votes
Meaning of "C.P." footnote
As Rand al'Thor says in his answer, this is indeed a signature mark. I am adding this answer to note that, if these marks are present, they will occur throughout the book, not just in the first half, ...
- 61
6
votes
At what temperature can I safely iron the fabric bookmarks in the volumes of the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade?
I don’t know what fabric the ribbons are made from, but there are a number of precautions you can take to minimise risk of damaging the ribbons:
Don’t iron directly onto the fabric, always use an ...
- 19.1k
5
votes
In which editions of Moby Dick is this a six inch chapter?
As kimchi lover pointed out in a comment:
In the first American edition ,chapter 23 is slightly less than a page long, spanning pp. 117-118. Since the book measures 20 cm, or slightly less than 8 ...
- 987
5
votes
How many manuscripts of English Renaissance plays have survived?
The Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450–1700 (CELM) has a comprehensive list of manuscripts from the period of interest. I sampled some of the authors and I estimate that the catalogue ...
- 60.7k
5
votes
Why is a hardcover book better than a paperback book?
There are more ways to bind a book than is suggested by the binary opposition of hardcover versus paperback.
Paperbacks are usually made by applying glue to the "spine" of a set of sheets ...
- 48.4k
5
votes
Accepted
What should you look for when deciding whether a children's book would be "dyslexia-friendly"?
The article 12 best kids' books for dyslexic and reluctant readers from The Independent may be lumping a few things together because, as the article points out,
While you’ll probably know if your ...
- 48.4k
5
votes
What are these pink papers with book text written on them?
I do not work with paper but with plastic and sometimes our rolls of material do have a 'splice' in the length somewhere.
I guess that also happens with paper.
If the roll is broken and repaired or ...
- 101
5
votes
Accepted
How do you report stolen library books to the library?
Many libraries in the Western world use RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags to identify books. This makes checking books in and out even easier than the bar codes that were often used ...
- 48.4k
5
votes
Accepted
What is the oldest book written in braille?
Some sources claim that the first Braille book was published in 1829, others in 1837. The answer appears to depend on whether you are looking for a book that contained text in Braille's six-dot system ...
- 48.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Is it a widespread tradition to inscribe family trees in the back of holy books?
Much like the tradition among Christians to record births, deaths, marriages and baptisms in their Bibles, it is, in fact a common thing for the family Koran to include such things as well. For ...
- 3,195
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