Remaindered book

Remaindered books or remainders are printed books that are no longer selling well, and whose remaining unsold copies are liquidated by the publisher at greatly reduced prices.

[1] Copies of remaindered books may be marked by the publisher, distributor, or bookseller to prevent them from being returned.

"Remainder marks" have varied over the years, but today most remainders are marked with a stroke with a felt-tipped marker across the top or bottom of the book's pages, near the spine.

[1] Since Thor Power Tool Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, books in the United States have been remaindered much earlier and in greater quantities than prior to the 1979 decision.

Since then, the number of unsold books that have simply been destroyed (by being trashed, burned, or recycled) instead of being sold at a large reduction has also risen greatly.