I recently got this book in the mail and at the top, part of it looks stained. What do you think? http://www.flickr.com/photos/63233114@N00/7162106923/

It looks like it aged or got wet?  Doesn't look that bad.  I hate getting books with food stains.

It is hard to tell from the picture.

If whatever it is is just on the surface of the edge of the book, though, you could try a little sandpaper to get it off.

I've turned many dirty books into really nice looking books with the application of a little sandpaper. I know it sounds like it would tear up the book edges, but it really doesn't. Usually you can't even tell that something has been sandpapered.

My usual call if I am not sure if something is RWAP is ... not to RWAP.  if you can only tell there is something wrong with the book after you hold it at a certain angle in bright sunlight and spin in a circle and then squint at it really hard ....  I like to give the sender the benefit of the doubt. JMO.

  if you can only tell there is something wrong with the book after you hold it at a certain angle in bright sunlight and spin in a circle and then squint at it really hard ....  I like to give the sender the benefit of the doubt.

+1

I can't tell from the picture - what do the affected pages look like on the inside? Honestly, it looks okay to me. In boarderline cases I neither mark RWAP or repost.

Looks stained. Is it just on the surface? If I can take a surface stain off with sandpaper and the book turns out clean then I won't mark it RWAP. If I couldn't remove that I would not repost it.

stained, I can see it rather clearly.

Difficult to tell if it's a stain or just lighting on a some age marks.  Open and look through the pages, anything that left a solid stain (deeper than you can sand off) will probably bleed down into the pages.  This could go either way, smudgy age markings or the top of a liquid mark that's bled into the pages.

About the only book markings I take outside to natural light are potential water/liquid marks, since they are a total no-no and show up nicely in sunlight.  Otherwise I figure my noraml household lighting is adquate...same as the sender used for inspecting before sending.

yeah they bleed a bit into the pages. i don't know what it is, but it appears as a stain to me. i can't sand it off. :(

If it bled into the pages, then it's a stain. So, you could RWAP it if you wanted to!

If you have to ask, I usually don't call it a RWAP.  Most RWAPs you shouldn't have to ask, in my opinion.

thanks for everyone's help!!! i think i'll let this one slide since it's minimal could be easily missed. plus i most likely keep the book long term. plus i accidentely got some smoothie on it, so oh well!!

thanks!