Smooth plates, black plates, gray plates, short plates, long plates,
round getters, D getters...

I constantly see vintage tubes with such descriptions. Is there a book
which lists all the different designs so I can learn about them?

Thanks

Crumb

don't know a good book, the best thing is to buy a big batch of tubes and
get some hands-on

none of those terms are too tough though

here is an explanation:

Smooth plates - the plate of the tube is smooth, rather than "ribbed"
black plates - the plate is black in color as compared to grey (black is
preferred to grey in most cases)
gray plates - the plate is grey in color as compared to black
short plates - the same tube - for example a Mullard ECC83 may have two
versions, one having shorter plates than the other
long plates - see short plate above
round getters - the getter(s) are shaped like the letter "O"
D getters - the getter(s) are shaped like the letter "D"