Especially at Christmas

boards : Common term for the covers of a hardbound book.

dust jacket : A protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps around the binding of a book.

tight : Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.

8vo : Short for Octavo, A book whose page size is approximately 8-10 inches tall. The size is based on a sheet of paper 25 inches by 38 inches, the size of paper traditionally used by book printers, which has been folded and cut into 16 pages.. Unfortunately often misunderstood to mean 8 volumes.