On Jun 15, 1:59 pm, "John R. Yamamoto-Wilson"
wrote:

Alice is saying that maybe the the book had been stolen from the library
and the library stamp was removed to hide that fact.

If part of the title page has been cut out, I don't see how you can know
what may once have been on that section (unless it was printed text).
Are you just guessing that it may have been a library stamp? If so, it's
a reasonable guess, but surely it is just as likely to have been a
signature by a previous owner?

But perhaps you have more to go on and can identify the actual library
(perhaps because there are other stamps elsewhere in the book)? If so,
then it might be worth contacting the library to see whether the book
has indeed been properly deaccessioned.

John

As said before,
"... The book is 400 years old. The binding was done in 1800s. There
is no
other marking on ownership besides 2 initials U. B. on the book
spine..."

Marking means library stamps or previous owner's name. The wormed copy
does have a library stamp located exactly at the cut-out section of
the washed copy.

About freshness, the washed copy overall looks much nicer than the
wormed copy.

Calvin