Today in Book Words

From an addendum to an article in Canadian Notes & Queries:

For the most part Medley has done a good job of describing Nicky Drumbolis, but there are a couple of deceptive minor errors that I wish to correct. 

First was the use of the term “nutbar”: a misnomer amplified by its use in the heading, although Medley cannot be faulted here as it was Nicky himself who used it to describe his books. Nutbar is a term that has precise and specific meaning in the book trade. It is used to describe those classes of books that can loosely be described as weird: books on the occult, astral projection, previous lives, aliens, UFOs, etc. All those otherworldly subjects which are generally viewed as the opposite of scientific subjects. It is also the term booksellers use to refer to the kind of wild-eyed, unblinking people who enter used bookstores seeking those subjects.