tyan at twcny.rr.com (Thomas Yan) writes: > Whereas stripping was what was described: In the U.S., to make > 'returning' unsold mass market paperbacks cheaper, the covers were > stripped and returned, and the contents (supposedly) destroyed. (Note > that hardcovers and trade paperbacks, when returned, are returned whole > -- not stripped. And I'm not sure if stripping is done anywhere else > but the U.S.) > > Corrections on any/all of the above are welcome! More details -- the "paperback" distribution system was, in fact, the *magazine* distribution system. The procedure for returning unsold magazines was to strip the covers, since they were of no value past the sale date (but the covers proved they really hadn't been sold). When early paperback publishers sprang up and started putting their product through the magazine distribution system, they conformed to existing practice there. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / New TMDA anti-spam in test John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Book log: http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/Ouroboros/booknotes/ New Dragaera mailing list, see http://dragaera.info