#46: Murder on 47th Street by Beulah Poynter

One of my favorite things in all of New York City is the set of $1 books outside of The Strand. It is full of gems and last week I found this one. I was immediately drawn to it because it’s an old mystery set in my town. I mean, who can resist that? Second, it’s inside cover had two distinct markings:

• The first is handwritten by the original owner. It gives his name, address, and year (1932). The book was first published in ‘31, so this makes sense.
• The second is a small piece of paper on which the second owner (or later) typed their information. Mr. Kruse went so far as to label it “Book 314, Shelf 21”. I’m assuming this dude had a lot of books. 

All of this got me thinking about the way we mark our books. I found this forum about whether or not a serious collector would even do such a thing, but I have my own take on it. There are books that we love and we somehow need to make sure they stay close to us. For those books, we might write all over them, lend them out, get food stains on them, and even drop them in the bathtub. So why not mark them? They’re ours anyways. 

In conclusion, I’m now in the market for a good personal book stamp.