Q: I have a book called, The Creation Story by William E. Gladstone. There is a stamp on the inside front cover of the shop that sold it: JONES & WATSON – Jewelers, Opticians, Magazines, Books – KIRBYVILLE, TEXAS. I have attached a picture of the cover and the copyright page. Can I rely on this as the proper copyright – 1896 – or is there another date I should use?

A: This book was published as part of the In His Name Series in the 1904-1907 time frame.

This is a Format 3 book. These books came with a dust jacket that lists the titles of the series on the jacket front. There were four different covers-each with a different flower and rectangular idyllic picture. See below.

These titles are hard to sell at any price.