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I have come across these in various online book catalogues, for example here:

  • Gln.
  • Ln.

I am assuming these describe the binding, but I can't work out which is which.

Then there is Kart., which I assume means Karton, i.e. boxed, but there is also kart., and I can't tell what that means.

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  • Welcome to German.SE. Would you please consider integrating more context into your question? I don't think "online book catalogue" is enough context. I think like the entire passage 8 TITEL, dabei Georg Kolbe; Jakob Wilhelm Fehrle; Wilhelm Lehmbruck; Das Buch vom großen Treck; Finnische Kunst etc., Stuttgart u.a. 1922-1949, ges. ca. 960 S., zahlr. Abb., Ln./HLn., tls. berieben u. fleckig, 1xSU, dieser beschädigt <1105158F could fit. Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 5:58
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    For antiquarian books there exist a whole host of abbreviations and special terminology. And typically it's very specific about the book conditions and - unlike some used book traders - doesn't embellish the state of the book. I've never encountered GLn (not consciously anyway), but of course with HLn in mind, GLn makes sense immediately. Other sources: here, here ... antiquarische Abkürzungen ... Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 7:47

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The page you are linking to has a list of abbreviations (Abkürzungsverzeichnis) in which some abbreviations are explained, e.g.

Ln. - Leinen (linen)

Hln. - Halbleinen (semi-linen*)

SU - Schutzumschlag (dust jacket)

kart. - kartoniert (bound in boards*)

Another (extended) list of abbreviations can be found here.

Unfortunately none of these lists says anything about Gln. . But lucky for us this page says

rotes Ganzleinen / Leinen / GLn / Ln kl. 8vo im Format 10 x 18 cm

Therefore we can assume Gln. stands for

Gln. - Ganzleinen (full cloth/pure linen*)


  • I am not 100% sure that these are the correct English terms. dicct.cc translates "kartoniert" as paperback (Taschenbuch/Softcover), but usually kartoniert is used when talking about books with a "hard cover".

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