on the right hand
of the centre, or just below the centre on the right. This, because its
impression is far more legible on the plain white surface than on any
part of the printed title. In a circulating library, the stamps should be
impressed on one or more pages in the body of the book, as well as on the
last page, as a means of identification if the book is stolen or
otherwise lost; as it is very easy to erase the impression of a rubber
stamp from the title-page, and thereby commit a fraud by appropriating or
selling the book. In such a case, the duplicate or triplicate impression
of the stamp on some subsequent page (say page 5 or 16, many books having
but few pages) as fixed upon by the librarian, is quite likely to escape
notice of the thief, while it remains a safe-guard, enabling the
librarian to reclaim the book, wherever found. The law will enforce this
right of free reclamation in favor of a public library, in the case of
stolen books, no matter in what hands found, and even though the last
holder may be an innocent purchaser. All libraries are victimized at some
time by unscrupulous or dishonest readers, who will appropriate books,
thinking themselves safe from detection, and sometimes easing their
consciences, (if they have any) by the plea that the book is in a measure
public property.

In these cases, there is no absolute safe-guard, as it is easy to carry
off a book under one's coat, and the librarian and his few aids are far
too busy to act as detectives in watching readers. Still, a vigilant
librarian will almost always find out, by some suspicious
circumstance--such as the hiding of books away, or a certain furtive
action observed in a reader--who are the persons that should be watched,
and when it is advisable to call in the policeman.

The British Museum Library, which has no circulation or book lending,
enforces a rule that no one making his exit can have a book with him,
unless checked as his own property, all overcoats and other wraps being
of course checked at the door.

It is a melancholy fact, duly recorded in a Massachusetts paper, that no
less than two hundred and fifty volumes, duly labeled and stamped as
public library books, were stolen from a single library in a single year,
and sold to second-hand booksellers.

The impression of the stamp in the middle of a certain page, known to the
librarian, renders it less liable to detection by others, while if
stamped on the lower unprinted ma