Smudges - All Core books

[hcm]

When I went to buy my books in the local store, I noticed every book (phbs, mms, dmgs) had wavy pages. A good portion of the books had traces of glue on the bottom edge, and a few had bent covers. I choose the best three I could find. So far, I've only opened my phb. I put the other two under pressure to stop covers from bending (they were starting to bend). The phb has wavy pages and one page corner torn. It closes pretty well, but not great.

If I compare the 4e phb to my 3e phb, the 3e phb is in better shape -- and it's seen *a lot* of use.

 

[Burr]

I got a smudge in the first 5 minutes of having the PHB open (but only one and none since).

Far worse, pages 129-160 of my Monster Manual (from an FLGS gift set) are double-printed. It's like trying to read with my eyes crossed. I can't find my receipt anywhere, so hopefully when I go back to the store tomorrow they won't require one for just an exchange.

Anyhow, on the positive side of things, now that we know they aren't perfect, we can all relax and open up a bag of cheetohs.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

does anyone here NOT have wavy pages?

So far so good **knocks on nearby wood-like object**.

But then again the books have spent all of the time I haven't been reading them in a single stack and in a random order as well so maybe they have just kept everything flattened with their own weight.

(Non-giftbox set through Amazon)

 

[hcm]

I got worried when perusing this thread, so I took out the mm and the dmg to check them thoroughly. Remember my post above, when I said I got the best in the lot at the store? Well, I'd hate to have bought the ones that were visibly in poor shape, because mine, which looked good in the store, sure aren't! Here's the list of issues:

PHB: Wavy pages, one page corner torn, barely closes.

DMG: Wavy pages, three pages at the end torn, glue left on several page edges making them stick, many pages poorly cut, barely closes, cover bent (despite 72 hours tightly pressed to a flat surface), binding poor

MM: Wavy pages, glue left on several page edges making them stick, barely closes, some pages look like they might come loose after a while

My kid ate (!) the receipt, so I can't return the books. And quite frankly I'm not sure I would have anyway: from what people report here you can end up even worse.

I have about 250 RPG books in my appartment and I'd say at least 230 of them are better quality than DnD 4e. I'm disappointed.

 

[r337ard]

Mine came in today (PHB, MM, DMG non-set from Amazon.ca) and I too have wavy pages and books that don't really close properly. My MM is the worst, with a few crinkles at the bottom of the pages and the green backing not being glued down properly in one place. No smudging (and I have very oily skin), and no printing defects so far as I can tell. I would imagine the problem is the printing facility was just far too humid when the books were printed and never got a chance to dry out properly.

Honestly, within a month any of my regularly used books would end up in worse condition than this anyway. Laying flat with other books on top of them, being pulled out and passed around the table, fingers going right from the pizza to the rules with no more than a quick wipe on the lap... I'm fairly careful with my books, but my group can be brutal sometimes

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Just wanted to chime in here and say that I too have wavy pages in my PHB, although I didn't notice them when I bought the book, and the motel room I stayed in that night was all sorts of humid.

I attributed the wavyness to the humidity, not to the printing process. perhaps I was wrong.

My front cover also does not lay flat, but I believe that was due to the way I was holding the book the first night I was reading it. The cover started out flat.

My thoughts when I noticed the cover were "wow, these are a lot more flexible than 3.5 was, bummer."

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

Have H1 and all 3 books. Me and my kid and several others have used them for the last 4 or 5 days. No smudges as of yet

 

[Kichwas]

The ink smudges fairly easily if you place your thumb on it for any long period of time. Anyone else had this problem?

The only reasons I could imagine for this are:
1. The ink and paper are poor matches for each other.
2. The ink is not yet dry on your copy. This problem is common in printing - most people are familiar with it with newspapers. Would you say what is happening to you is similar to way a newspaper smudges (although maybe in a smaller or more delayed degree)?
3. You. Your fingers might be unusually oily or acidic or something. I am -assuming- this is NOT the case for you or you would probably know about it already from other books. But I'll mention it anyway as it is one possibility that could happen to someone.

I'm going to assume theory number 2 is the case. Unless other people start having this problem a lot, in which case I'd go for number 1. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I don't tend to read with my thumbs or fingers touching the pages. I was a comic book collector as a kid, and I used to read that you should never touch the pages or you'd leave oils behind that would interact with acids in the paper and ink and destroy or mark your comics - so in time I just learned to read everything with a delicate handling.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Sounds like good quality American workmanship at the printing press to me. I guess they should have out sourced it to China like everyone else.

Sadly, I was dreading this when I heard that they were "printed in the USA"

Oh, well... guess I'll prepare for the worst then. (my books wont be here for another month, according to Amazon, no FLGS here)

 

[dfan]

Amazon, wavy pages.

As other have noted, these books are for using, not for framing, but it's still disappointing and detracts from the books' sense of quality.