Book by poet and journalist Spooner's mentioned (8)
I believe the answer is:
hardback
'book' is the definition.
(hardback is a kind of book)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hardback that I've seen before include "Penguins are rarely so" , "Durable version of book" , "Sort of book" , "It might be a novel!" , "Book with board covers" .)