On Jun 17, 10:33 am, "John R. Yamamoto-Wilson"
wrote:
wrote:
The book was rebound in 1800s. While there are 2 initials on the book
spine, there are no stamp or other marks in the book.

Since the cutout raised a red flag, as Alice mentioned, I decided not
to proceed further.

I think that may be unduly cautious. If the cutting-out is old, as you
say, it may well have been done at the time of rebinding simply because
the owner resented having whatever was written/stamped there on his
book. You have to bear in mind that, in the 19th century, while it would
have been recognised as a collectible book, it probably had no very
great value attached to it, so the incentive to steal it would have been
much smaller, and the qualms about defacing it much fewer.

There is no record of the book having been stolen on the ABAA database
(http://www.abaa.org/books/abaa/datab...n_search.html). That
doesn't prove anything, of course, but it probably means it hasn't been
stolen any time in the recent past.

One way you might get to the bottom of this is by taking the matter to
the Exlibris discussion list
(http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byfor...libris/;scroll
down to "Subscribing" and follow the instructions given there).

There are many trained librarians on that list, who will be able to give
you authoritative guidance on this. Someone may even be able to confirm
whether this book has ever been reported stolen.

John

Thanks for the info, John.

Calvin