Is this an ARC, or....?

External Since: Mar 06, 2004 Posts: 118

At a library sale, I picked up an 8 1/2 by 11 inch mock-up for a book called
*A Zulu Girl* by Thomas Calkins. I'm not exactly sure how it's bound, but
it's got a black plastic spine and clear plastic covers. The first page
looks like the intended cover and is in color. The final book would be 5.5
by 8.5 inches (trade paperback size), and every page shows the crop marks
for the final book.

There is a small slip of paper (printed) bound in before the front cover
with the title, author, publishing date, price, size, pages, ISBN, LC#, and
binding (paperback) stated. I'm guessing this is an ARC, but since I've
never seen one, I thought I would ask.

For the terminally curious: According to the preface, the author was a
Catholic missionary. This is his third novel, and it was published by his
family after his death. The publisher is Ivy House Publishing Group. which
seems to be a vanity publisher of sorts, although new copies of this book
seem to be available from some booksellers, including Walmart.com.

Alice

External Since: Jan 31, 2004 Posts: 36

These are bound galleys -- an "ARC" only in the most literal sense. I know that
larger publishers use them mainly for in-house purposes (distribution to sales
staff, etc.). Author's uncorrected typescripts are sometimes circulated this
way too (I have copies like this of Eddy Joe Cotton's Hobo, and Arianna
Huffington's Pigs at the Trough). A smaller publisher might send them to
selected reviewers too, in lieu of the more expensive wraps binding.

Alice writes:

>At a library sale, I picked up an 8 1/2 by 11 inch mock-up for a book called
>*A Zulu Girl* by Thomas Calkins. I'm not exactly sure how it's bound, but
>it's got a black plastic spine and clear plastic covers. The first page
>looks like the intended cover and is in color. The final book would be 5.5
>by 8.5 inches (trade paperback size), and every page shows the crop marks
>for the final book.
Bob Riedel
Print Matters! Used & Rare Books
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.abebooks.com/home/printmat" target="_blank">http://www.abebooks.com/home/printmat</a>