Terms used in my descriptions

• Foxing (or fox marks) - orange/brown spotting caused by the growth of mould if the item has been kept in damp conditions at some time in the past.
  
• Cockled - smooth wrinkles in the paper, caused by damp affecting the item unevenly at some time in the past.
  
• Margins - blank paper area outside the image area. Sometimes the paper can be close trimmed near to the image edge - this often occurred when the print or map was produced, or when it may have been bound into a book. Can also be a result of later trimming to fit a frame or to remove damaged edges.
  
• Plate mark - impression left by the edge of a metal printing plate. Not always present, especially in the case of very close cropped items and impressions taken from steel plates or lithographs. Prior to the eighteenth century due to the high cost of copper plates the plate mark was usually only just outside the image edge. Click here for an example of the corner of the plate mark from an eighteenth century print.
  
• Soiling - general dirt or grubbiness, dust, ink, tea, soup, coffee stains etc.
  
• Browning or age browning - discolouration of the paper due to age, not usually a serious fault in itself but can be disfiguring. Sometimes browning can occur very evenly in which case it could also be termed 'age toning' or even a 'feature'!
  
• Worm holes - small (usually 1-2mm) holes caused by woodworm eating through the book that once contained a map or print.
  
• Offsetting - the inadvertent transfer of ink or colour onto the paper surface from another part of the print or map (as when folded and bound in a book) or from another page. Most common with centre folded maps that have probably been bound before the ink or colour is totally dry. Example showing river features offset due to a fold.
  
• Edge Chipping - tatty edges to the map or print, possibly with small tears or small pieces of the edge of the paper missing. caused by general wear and tear.
  
• Printers crease - a crease in the paper that was present when the map or print was produced. The pressure of the plate in printing flattens this down to a visible line, it is a fault but could also be called a 'feature'.
  
• Weak impression - a weak image that is fainter than normal due to either a worn plate or insufficient pressure or inking of the plate during printing.