The dust jacket (sometimes dust wrapper, abbreviated dj or dw) of a hardback book is the paper, usually illustrated and including front and back flaps, that protects the binding of the book from scratches. However, since dust jackets themselves have value, aesthetic and sometimes financial, they themselves are sometimes wrapped in transparent, acetate book jacket covers. In the world of book collecting the presence or absence of an original dust jacket has a significant impact on a collectible book's value. Most teacher require school-age students to buy Book Covers for their books. Many book cover come in designs such as Camo, Stripes, and other designs. Book covers may be found in Student-Teacher sections in stores such as Target or Walmart. The best buys are during back to school week, or after. A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... Acetate, or ethanoate, is the anion of a salt or ester of acetic acid. ... Book collecting is what it sounds like, the collecting of books. ... CAMO is the Club Aquatique de Montreal, a veritable factory of Canadian diving stars. ... A stripe may be one of a pattern of areas created by a family of parallel lines, as on the flag of the United States, also known as the stars and stripes in a candy-stripe pattern, on a diagonal and twisted round a cylinder, as for a candy cane... A target can signify: from ca. ... Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ...
Marsha explains that it is a book's only removable part, and is also referred to as a "book jacket" or "dust cover." The paper cover protects a cloth or paperbound book on its journey from publisher to buyer and also protects it from handling by its owner.
Marsha says that the earliest recorded dustjacket dates from 1832, although surviving examples before the mid-1880s are extremely rare.
The popularity of dustjackets faded until the 1920s, when they had a resurgence, especially in the United States thanks to an increased interest in the collection of modern first editions.