First of all a few more words that you might find in a bookshop…
| German | English |
| Antiquariat | antiquarian bookseller, seller of rare books |
| modernes Antiquariat | Area in a regular bookshop where they sell cheap books, usually because of suspended agency pricing |
| Remittenden | Remaindered books, being sold cheap at the bookshop |
| Sonderpreis | Special price |
| Klappentext | blurb |
| Buchumschlag | dust jacket |
| Bucheinband | book cover |
| Buchrücken | spine |
| Schnitt | edge |
| Eselsohr | dog ear |
| Mängelexemplar | faulty or flawed book |
| Erstausgabe | First edition |
| Auflage | print run |
| Exlibris | book plate |
| Bindung | binding |
| Impressum | imprint |
If you want to know a specific term not covered yet, just ask!
Credits for image: Blackboard image by gfordham
from Stock Exchange, Fonts: Viper Nora & Vaguely repulsive
For the second instalment of my German(y) for the bookish traveller series I am listing a few terms that you might encounter when you walk around a bookshop.
| German | English translation |
| Belletristik | belles lettres, fiction |
| Prosa | prose |
| Lyrik | lyric poetry |
| Dramatik | drama |
| Roman | novel |
| Kurzgeschichte | short story |
| Erzählung | novella |
| Novelle | novella |
| Sage | legend |
| Märchen | fairy tale |
| Epos | epic |
| Bestseller | bestseller |
| Krimi | mystery / detective story |
| Liebesroman | romance |
| Kinderbuch | children’s book |
| Fremdsprachige Bücher | books in foreign languages |
| Biografie | biography |
| Fachbuch | text book / reference book |
| Sachbuch | non-fiction book |
| Ratgeber | guide book / self-help book |
| Hörbuch | audio book |
| Taschenbuch | paperback |
| Hardcover | hardcover |
| Grossdruck | large print |
I’m sure there are many more, therefore don’t consider this list to be comprehensive. If you want to know a specific term not covered yet, just ask!
Credits for image: Blackboard image by gfordham
from Stock Exchange, Fonts: Viper Nora & Vaguely repulsive
Book prices in Germany
I posted this previously in my guest post at Leeswammes Blog in her Book bloggers abroad series. But since it fits the topic I thought it’s a good start.
In Germany as far as the price of books is concerned it doesn’t matter where you buy your books. They are generally not that expensive (ca. 8-12 EUR for a paperback) and over here we have something called book price control (I suppose this is the same as or similar to agency pricing). The price of a book has to be fixed by the publishing house and the book dealers are obliged to sell the books at that price. So whether you buy a bestseller, a non-fiction book or a classic at a book shop, a department store or a supermarket, it always costs the same. The only exceptions to this law are faulty books which have to be labelled as such, used books that have been sold once already at the fixed price or books that have been on the market longer than 18 months and for which the publisher has lifted that fixed price. You won’t find a book published in Germany cheaper online than in your local bookstore. For imported books, which is the majority of what I buy, this control is not applicable, so those books are rather inexpensive. Often I get an imported English book cheaper than the German version.
OK, this was just some general information about the book prices in Germany. Check back soon for another German(y) for bookish travellers post
Credits for image: Blackboard image by gfordham
from Stock Exchange, Fonts: Viper Nora & Vaguely repulsive
One of my blogging friends, Carin from A little Bookish, is often asking me about German and suggested the other day to introduce short German lessons to the blog, possibly combined with the comparing covers posts. I meant to do that but always forget.
Now, to do it properly, I decided to make it an (ir-)regular feature here at The Bookkeeper. To keep it book related I plan on focusing on book topics in some way or other. Actually I have no idea yet how to do it. My husband pointed out that a tourist who only speaks a few sentences of German has no interest in going into a German bookshop. Even though s/he will be able to BUY a book, s/he won’t be able to READ it. He does have a point here, I must admit. But now that I got the idea into me head I want to go through with it even though my target group might be tiny to non-existent. We’ll see.
