Proofs, Galleys & Advance Review Copies

Unlike first editions, proofs and advanced review copies of books were not printed to be consumed publicly. Proofs and advance review copies are printed for publishers, reviewers, and select magazines and bookstores as sneak previews of soon to be available books. Proofs and advance review copies may be different than the finished product, and the level of difference varies greatly. Some differences are minor and grammatical, while other proofs and advance reading copies have entire paragraphs or pages included that are edited out before the first official printing.

Even though book galleys are also early printed versions of books before they are widely released, galleys sometimes serve a slightly different purpose than proofs and advance reading copies. The typeset is determined and it has usually been proofed by an editor, but galleys are often used as the final proofreading copy for the author.

By their nature, proofs, advance review copies, and galleys are quite scarce, so if they are copies of successful titles, they are often considered to be highly collectible and valuable. They are great additions to personal rare book collections, and they can tremendous diversity and insight to the collection.