I spotted this Nancy Drew book - The Hidden Staircase - recently on eBay and noticed the stamp inside on the front right endpaper about it being Library of Congress surplus. I thought that was neat, so I decided to purchase it. It’s a printing from 1942 and also has the “wartime conditions” notice inside, meaning it was printed during the war when they were conserving paper and the stamp reflects that. It has markings inside the back on the back endpapers (both sides) where it appears something was removed from the library and then also a spot on the lower spine where some kind of sticker was removed. I searched online and found several sites or message boards including one at eBay discussing these stamps. The Library of Congress also has a page on their website about surplus books. I have seen several more modern stamps with dates and other notations, but this is more vintage. Someone on the eBay thread notes that two copies are sent to the library to secure copyright. Obviously, this book was not sent to secure copyright for The Hidden Staircase since this printing is from 12 years after it was first published, but I am curious about how it ended up there - that will forever be a mystery. Eventually the book ended up - perhaps through a surplus sale - in the hands of someone named Robin Alexander whose name is professionally printed on a bookplate inside. Do you have any surplus stamped books in your collection? These do not appear to be scarce stamps - many books have been surplus over the years, but I'm curious how many series books have turned up with these over the years?
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