Ex-library marks

How to read it

The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) defines an ex-library book, “ex-lib” in the trade, as one legitimately removed (discarded or deaccessioned) from an institutional library, such as a public or university library or a historical society. It lists the marks such a book often has: catalogue numbers inked or painted on the spine, library bookplates, embossed or rubber-stamped identification on the title page and plates, and library card pockets, often with considerable wear or a rebinding in plain buckram. John Carter and Nicolas Barker’s ABC for Book Collectors gives much the same list for books released by public and reference libraries: shelf or classification marks stamped or written in white ink on the spine, pockets pasted inside the front cover, a superfluity of labels or stamps, and rebinding in a library binding.

Also searched as: discard stamp, ex-lib, ex-library, ex library book, library stamp in book, withdrawn stamp.

How libraries mark withdrawn books

Each library sets its own procedure; two published ones show the kind of marks it leaves. Duke University Libraries stamp a withdrawn book with a withdrawn stamp at the head of the book, inside the cover and over the barcode, and write an X over the call number in black permanent marker. Windward Community College Library in Hawaii stamps WITHDRAWN over its own library stamps on the title page and three times on the text block, crosses out the barcode, and removes the barcode from the spine where it can. Windward sells some of its withdrawn books at a library book cart sale, and Duke sends some in good condition to Better World Books.

Labels from lending libraries

Carter and Barker note that “ex-library” once meant only books from commercial lending libraries. These libraries sometimes pasted a printed label inside or outside the front cover, and in the second half of the 19th century large labels on the outside front cover became common, especially on novels, which were meant mainly for borrowers. W. H. Smith and some other English libraries pasted theirs inside. A removed label can leave a trace: Carter and Barker describe the discoloured oblong patch at the top of the front board left by Mudie’s labels, and the smaller shield-shaped scars from Boots, often touched up but almost always visible when the book is held at an angle in a good light.

Library stamps

In ABC for Book Collectors, a library stamp is an impression of institutional ownership on the title or other pages. Carter and Barker say such stamps became more frequent, especially in Germany, once rubber stamps replaced metal ones and aniline dyes came in, about 1870, and that older library stamps are viewed more leniently.

Stamps that aren’t a library’s

Not every stamp on a title page is a library’s. Carter and Barker note blind stamps reading Review copy or From the author, which collectors count as a positive advantage; publishers sent such copies out before publication (see advance reading copies).

How collectors regard them

Carter and Barker write that on cloth books, library labels or their traces are regarded with lively disfavour by most experienced collectors.