Iraqi Library Stamps
17-07-2003 ()
This project of the Middle East Librarians Association's Committee on Iraqi Libraries seeks to collect images of library stamps and other ownership marks used by various libraries and manuscript collections in Iraq and publish them on the Internet for use as a reference guide in helping to identify books, manuscripts and other materials that may have been illegally removed from Iraqi libraries.
Libraries everywhere, including libraries in Iraq, are in the habit of putting ownership marks (such as rubber-stamp or seal impressions) inside their printed books and manuscripts. This helps them to keep track of their books and to claim and recover items that might be lost or stolen from their collections.
Ownership marks can be found not only at the front of printed books and manuscripts (NOTE: Arabic-script books start on the right-hand side, at what would be the end of an English-language text), but can often also be seen stamped in the top or side margins of other pages within a volume.
Of course thieves and unscrupulous dealers may attempt to erase or remove ownership marks from stolen items before putting them on the market. If such is their intention, they will probably try to do so in any event. Professional criminals need no encouragement from sites such as this one to be reminded of the potential perils of dealing in identifiable contraband. However, past experience has shown that book thieves can be careless and may not be particularly diligent or successful in their efforts to obliterate all traces of ownership marks (especially when doing so would result in damage to the book, thus diminishing its resale value).
The site publishes the different kinds of stamps and seal impressions seen on the pages of books and manuscripts owned by Iraqi libraries and is appealing to scholars who have worked in Iraqi libraries or with microfilmed materials from Iraq, and who can provide images from their own
photographic, microfilm, or xerographic collections of library stamps and other distinguishing markers not yet included in this index.
Ownership marks can be found not only at the front of printed books and manuscripts (NOTE: Arabic-script books start on the right-hand side, at what would be the end of an English-language text), but can often also be seen stamped in the top or side margins of other pages within a volume.
Of course thieves and unscrupulous dealers may attempt to erase or remove ownership marks from stolen items before putting them on the market. If such is their intention, they will probably try to do so in any event. Professional criminals need no encouragement from sites such as this one to be reminded of the potential perils of dealing in identifiable contraband. However, past experience has shown that book thieves can be careless and may not be particularly diligent or successful in their efforts to obliterate all traces of ownership marks (especially when doing so would result in damage to the book, thus diminishing its resale value).
The site publishes the different kinds of stamps and seal impressions seen on the pages of books and manuscripts owned by Iraqi libraries and is appealing to scholars who have worked in Iraqi libraries or with microfilmed materials from Iraq, and who can provide images from their own
photographic, microfilm, or xerographic collections of library stamps and other distinguishing markers not yet included in this index.
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