Yup, it is. Booksellers can return unsold stock (in an unmarketable condition) to the publisher for a partial refund. The publisher's supposed to destroy them, they're common objects of theft.
@MotherDucker It is. When I worked at a bookstore many moons ago, we never returned mass-market paperbacks to the distributor, we’d just send back the torn-off covers
@Satchelpooch @mcfate @Tarnagh
Huh. The more you know! I’m about to check every book on my shelf now. The paperbacks anyway. This one is The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.
@MotherDucker @Satchelpooch @Tarnagh
I don't believe it's as common these days, outside of textbooks, which go stale pretty quickly and cost a lot.
@MotherDucker
It used to be. I didn't realize it still was. I had a lot of books that I bought back in the '80s and early '90s that had that printed in them.