Trade Paperback
A trade paperback (TPB) is a softcover book that collects a run of single comic issues, usually one complete story arc of five to eight issues.
Where the word comes from
"Trade" comes from the book trade: these editions were made for bookshops (the trade) rather than for newsstands and comic shops, where single issues were sold.
In depth
A trade paperback reprints a sequence of single issues in one softcover volume. American publishers usually write a series in arcs of five or six issues, so a trade normally holds one complete story, with the issue numbers it collects printed on the back cover or the copyright page.
Numbering
Trades are numbered as volumes of a series — volume 1 collects issues #1–6, volume 2 issues #7–12, and so on. When a series is relaunched with a new issue #1, a new volume numbering usually starts too, which is why reading-order guides list volumes by title and number rather than by number alone.
Trade, hardcover, omnibus
The same issues often appear later in larger formats: a hardcover collecting two trades, then an omnibus or a deluxe edition collecting a whole run. The trade is the cheapest and most portable of these.
Where it appears
Saga, Volume One by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. a standard trade: issues #1–6 of an ongoing series
What it means today
Before buying a trade, check the issue range on the back. Two books with the same title can collect different issues, and a later "complete collection" edition can contain three earlier trades.
