The boards are very badly rubbed and the edges chipped; the first leaf was at some stage reinserted back to front with sticky tape. This has been remedied but has left the pages jutting out of the boards and remnant tape along the edge of the half title page; there is an ownership signature on the front paste down and title page and the front hinge and the one next to the title page have both been reinforced with acid free tape, and though while still quite solid, the binding needs to be treated respectfully. The book is not beautiful, but apart from the boards is clean and still a willing and able servant. 9th edition.