Collector details and photos

A book page has two edit actions, because they write to two different places. "Edit catalogue information" changes the shared edition record — title, authors, cover, publisher, and the list price printed on the book — which everyone holding that book sees; some of those changes go to review before they appear. "Edit this copy" changes only your copy: what you paid for it, and everything described below. Nothing entered there is shared with anyone outside your library, and none of it waits for review.

A collector edit always applies to the copy you opened it from, so you never have to work out which one it meant. On a book your library holds one copy of, "Edit this copy" sits under Holdings. When you hold several, expand the copies panel and use that copy’s own button — "Edit copy 2" edits Copy 2 and nothing else.

Every copy can carry optional collector information: condition grade, whether it has its dust jacket, whether it’s signed or inscribed (with a free-text inscription note describing what’s signed — "signed on title page, inscribed to Ruth, dated 1998"), whether it’s a first edition, free-text condition notes, provenance, when and where it was acquired, and an estimated value (kept separate from what you paid). The estimated value can also record a basis — Replacement (what it would cost to replace, for insurance) or Resale (what it would realistically sell for) — and a free-text source note for where the figure came from, such as "eBay sold comps 2026-07" or a dealer quote. Both are optional; a value entered without a basis still counts, grouped as "unspecified". None of this is required — fill in only what matters to you.

For edition-minded collectors, a copy can also record which printing it is: an edition statement (first printing, later printing, book club edition, first thus, reprint/facsimile, or unknown), a printing number, and a free-text points-of-issue note for the little tells that distinguish one printing from another. This sits alongside the simpler "first edition" checkbox — the checkbox is the quick flag, the edition statement is the deeper detail, and setting one never changes the other.

Not sure which printing you’re holding? The "Help me identify the edition" button walks you through what to look for — the number line on the copyright page, whether the dust jacket shows a printed price, a small debossed mark on the rear board — and suggests a likely edition. It’s a rule-of-thumb helper, not a verdict: it always phrases the answer as a likelihood, notes that some publishers are exceptions, and never fills anything in until you choose to accept its suggestion (which you can then edit).

Alongside the text details, each copy can hold up to six photos of its own — condition shots, signature or inscription close-ups, the points-of-issue page — each with an optional caption. Photos belong to the specific copy, so two copies of the same book keep separate photo sets. Add them from the copy’s "Copy photos" panel on the book page (or from the collector details section when editing), or from the phone app, where the book screen leads to each copy’s condition photographs. They appear with that copy for everyone in your library, whichever way they were added.

Copy photos are different from book photos: a book photo can become the cover everyone sees, while a copy photo documents your physical copy — it never becomes a cover and is never shown outside your library. Your JSON catalogue export includes each copy’s photo references, so the documentation travels with your backup.

Copy photos are private to your library — they never appear on public showcases or public book pages. Admins and members can add or remove them; guests can view them but not change them.

Add your own photos to a book — useful for special editions or to replace a generic cover image. Star a photo to set it as your personal cover; this only changes what you see, not other libraries’ view of the same book.

Deleting one of your photos removes it for good — unless an admin has approved it for the shared catalogue. Then it disappears from your photos at once, and an admin is asked to take it out of the catalogue; until they do, other members still see it. Only an admin can remove an approved photo for everyone.

A photo offered to the shared catalogue, for example as a book’s cover, is reviewed by an admin before anyone else sees it. Once it is approved, it becomes part of that book’s public record and stays there after you remove it from your photos or delete your account, as the Terms of Service describe. You keep the rights you hold in your photograph and grant AllMyBooks a lasting license to show it with the book.

• Terms of Service: photos approved for the shared catalogue →