Moldy Book – Toss?

This looks more like water staining than mold? Do you see mold growth? Does it smell? Assuming mold or mildew is present also on the interior text, then yes, since it is not a rare volume, I would toss it out. You could always scan anything you want to save. I have saved books in worse shape. The thing is that if mold is present it is like a bomb just waiting for the right environment to go off. Too much humidity and heat and mold could grow and infect your other books.

Hi Sophia

I guess I'm not really sure? It doesn't smell moldy. I thought the discoloration was from mold but I wasn't aware that it could have been from water damage that didn't cause mold. Attaching pics of the end papers which don't look moldy but I'm not really sure what the mold would look like if it was given a superficial cleaning from a visual level but could still have dormant spores.

So, that doesn't look moldy to me. If it doesn't smell, you might be in luck. Yes, Water can damage books with discoloration without mold. It all depends on the circumstances when it happened. For this book you could work to seal the area that is damaged. You could do color touch up before sealing it. That just might save the book!

Oh awesome. I'll put it in my fix pile! (Which is pretty big lol but slowly shrinking, almost done with all the dust jackets.)