Definition
the top edge of the text block is stained a particular color (not gilt). Other edges are left unstained.
Related Information
Examples:
by John Steinbeck
New York: Covici Friede, 1935. First edition. Fine/Near Fine. A Fine copy of the book with a bright blue topstain and appearing unread. One small bookseller's ticket on the rear paste-down. Dust jacket Near Fine with typical fading to the spine, otherwise fresh, clean and unrestored. Housed in a custom clamshell box.
Steinbeck's vivid and joyous portrayal of the residents of Tortilla Flat, set in Monterey, California. The book was modeled on the Arthurian legends of knights of Camelot, a story that had seized Steinbeck's imagination since he had been a child. Tortilla Flat was the first book Steinbeck wrote that received both warm reviews and good sales and was referenced by the Swedish Academy when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. It was also adapted into a 1942 film, starring Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr. "Mr. Steinbeck tells a number of first rate stories in his history of Danny's house. He has a gift for drollery and for turning Spanish talk and phrases into a gently mocking English. The book is consistently amusing..." (Contemporary New York Times Review). Fine in Near Fine dust jacket.
Offered by Whitmore Rare Books.
Rabbit is Rich (Signed First Edition)
by John Updike
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981. First edition. Hardcover. First printing. The third novel in the Rabbit Harry Angstrom series. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A very near fine copy with bright topstain in a very near fine price clipped dust jacket. Signed by Updike on a tipped-in page done for the publisher.
Offered by Jeff Hirsch Books.
All the King's Men. With a New Introduction by the Author and Illustrations by Warren Chappell
by Robert Penn Warren
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. Octavo; black and green cloth-covered boards, with titling and decorations stamped in gilt, green, and black on spine and front cover; red topstain; publisher's decorative paper-covered slipcase; 546, [6]pp; illus. Fine in a Fine slipcase, without dustjacket, as issued. Special illustrated edition of Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about political corruption in the deep South, basis for several film adaptations, including the classic 1949 film noir starring Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. Issued to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the novel's publication.
Offered by Lorne Bair Rare Books.