book (boo͝k), noun [OE. book, bok, AS. bōc; akin to Goth. bōka a letter, in pl. book, writing, Icel. bōk, Sw. bok, Dan. bog, OS. bōk, D. boek, OHG. puoh, G. buch; and fr. AS. bōc, bēce, beech; because the ancient Saxons and Germans in general wrote runes on pieces of beechen board. Cf. Beech.]

1. A collection of sheets of paper, or similar material, blank, written, or printed, bound together; commonly, many folded and bound sheets containing continuous printing or writing.

☞ When blank, it is called a blank book. When printed, the term often distinguishes a bound volume, or a volume of some size, from a pamphlet.

☞ It has been held that, under the copyright law, a book is not necessarily a volume made of many sheets bound together; it may be printed on a single sheet, as music or a diagram of patterns. Abbott.

2. A composition, written or printed; a treatise.

A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. Milton.

3. A part or subdivision of a treatise or literary work; as, the tenth book of “Paradise Lost.”

☞ Book is used adjectively or as a part of many compounds; as, book buyer, bookrack, book club, book lore, book sale, book trade, memorandum book, cashbook.

transitive verb [imperfect or past participle Booked (boo͝kt); present participle or verbal noun Booking.]

1. To enter, write, or register in a book or list.

Let it be booked with the rest of this day’s deeds. Shak.

2. To mark out for; to destine or assign for; as, he is booked for the valedictory. [Colloq.]

Here I am booked for three days more in Paris. Charles Reade.

A Search Engine That Finds You Weird Old Books by Clive Thompson:

I still do this! Old books are socially and culturally fascinating; they give you a glimpse into how much society has changed, and also what’s remained the same. The writing styles can be delightfully archaic, but also sometimes amazingly fresh. Nonfiction writers from 1780 can be colloquial and funny as hell.

And man, they wrote about everything. Back in those centuries they wrote books about falling in love via telegraph wires, and about long-distance balloon travel. They wrote books that soberly praised eugenics, and ones that inveighed against it. They published exuberant magazines of men’s fashion and books on how to adopt vegetarian diets. The past being the past, there’s a ton of flat-out nativism, racism, and gibbering misogyny — but also people fighting against that, too.

It’s rarely dull.

Still, sifting through old books can be a hassle. You have to go to those search sites and filter for the right vintage (and public domain status). It’s a pain.

So: I decided to partly automate this — by making my own search tool.

The result: " Weird old book finder"

-- Webster's unabridged 1913