This Book Carried So Much Literary Weight That They Treated It As Baggage!

Well, not really, but there had to have been a reason...

One of the more unusual uses I've seen of a baggage stamp. The tying cancel appears to be the norm, based upon other examples of the stamp I've seen, so no reason to believe it is contrived.

It surely can't have been typical, otherwise we would see more examples... I wonder what the rationale was.

Here's my imagined scenario: "Lost and Found," which involves a trans-Atlantic trip on a passenger liner. Perhaps the book fell out of someone's bag or luggage, or it was left on a seat in a departure lounge, and turned in to lost and found. As it likely belonged to one of the travelers, a well-meaning customs officer stamped it on the front so as to be noticeable, ensuring that it would be considered to be a passenger's property, hopefully to be claimed on-board or at the destination.

Possibly it would not have stuck on anything else, or the only thing that the person was willing to have canceled was the book. Amazing item.

E.J. O'Brien, writer and noted anthologist, died in 1941. He was survived by his siblings, Flann and Edna.

Now that would be an interesting imaginary family. Perhaps you could write a novel about them.

I was an (the?) underbidder on that lot and am still irritated at myself for lowballing what I really would have paid...

With regards to your question, I have zero idea but it was going on the "do something with this in the future" shelf.

I didn't see it, alas.