What About Those Leather Book Covers Real or Not?

Genuine Leather
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What About Those Leather Covers Real or Not? 

Blog post article by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

The look, feel and smell of a leather book is for many an elegant experience that creates an ambiance of fine living, but are you getting real leather or something else? 

Four Basic Differences in Books Said to Have Leather Covers
A Genuine Leather Book Cover is created with leather still in its original form.

Bonded Leather is made from genuine leather fibers mixed with bonding material which is embossed with a leather grain and then glued to another surface.

Leatherflex
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Leatherflex, Leatherette is imitation leather that feels flexible with a textured finish.

Leather Look has the appearance and flexibility of leather or suede with no leather content.

Please remember: Genuine leather book covers are not cheap.  If you see a new book for $10 that says leather you should be cautious.

Generally speaking, in an online photo image you might not be able to tell whether or not a book cover is real leather.

LINK to article: How to Identify Genuine Leather

Bonded Leather
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As a bookseller I have come across many books, especially on sites like Amazon.com, that say leather that are not.  If you are buying from an informed, reputable bookseller the misinformation that often accompanies Amazon.com listings should be correct in the written description.  

Some book dealers just don't know enough about books to understand how important accuracy is, and some book dealers are in the business of selling books for profit without thought about the actual product and thus just want to get as many as possible put up for sale in as short of a time as possible.  Unfortunately, because of this too many people have opened their order when it arrived to find something far less condition-wise than was expected.

LINK to Abebooks Guide to Understanding Book Bindings

Leatherette
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This is why we here at Quality Music and Books receive so many messages saying that the buyer was delightfully surprised when the book they bought from us actually was as good or better than described.  

A good rule of thumb for buying anywhere online whether it is Amazon.com, Ebay, Etsy, Barnes & Noble...any site...where independent sellers like us at Quality Music and Books, if you have questions or want to be certain that the seller is serious about providing service is to ask a question through email.  Quality sellers appreciate and invite questions.  If the seller doesn't answer your question at all within a few days, think twice about buying. If the seller answers in a rude or thoughtless way, think twice about buying. This is what I learned from other sellers and it is what I do when I buy on the internet and that is why I recommend it.