This is printed inside a book I recently bought, published by Penguin, which has offices in all the major English-speaking nations.
Are my rights to hire out a book that much different in the US than in other countries? If so, when did that distinction originate?
Apologies if this has been covered before, I couldn’t think of a good way to search this topic in the archives.
What sort of book is this?
Why can’t you put a different binding on it?
What if you got some a real cool book cover to put on it? I just used grocery bags when I was in school.
That kind of thing usually means the particular edition isn’t supposed to be sold in the US because the publisher there is someone else.
As for the rest, if you buy a book with torn covers, it’s one that the publisher discarded, so for some reason it’s ok to give but not to sell. Apparently if the publisher doesn’t think it can make money on it, you shouldn’t be able to. For the changed cover, the idea is twofold: to make sure that people don’t end up buying the wrong book or at the wrong price (because someone changed the cover), and also that the book is considered a “whole”, the cover is supposed to be as much part of “the book” as the letters inside. I can understand this, I prefer British editions of Pratchett because of the hilarious wraparound Jack Kirby covers.
Also, you sometimes see notices printed inside books that say something like “If you purchased this book without a cover, the bookseller has committed fraud.” Apparently, bookstores can claim credit for unsold paperbacks by returning the cover only, saving shipping costs, and they’re honor-bound to destroy or dispose of them. It always struck me as a waste of ink, because the notice is often printed on its own sheet, rather than a page with text on the other side, so the warning could simply be torn out as well.
One thing I wonder about that… libraries around here often sell off well-worn or obscure books for 25 cents each or something, to make room for new acquisitions. If someone ripped the cover off of a library paperback, would that keep the library from being able to sell it? 
The issue about the cover is this: all books are sold on a fully returnable basis. For various reasons, the system to return some books – primarily paperbacks – requires that the bookstore* return just the cover (to save postage). They are contractually required to destroy the rest of the book. Yes, it’s wasteful, but the books have to be destroyed so that the author and publisher get paid for their work. (Hardcovers and trade paperbacks, OTOH, are returned whole).
You can lend or even rent out a book in the US, as long as you are lending an actual, paid-for copy. Books, as objects, are treated in exactly the same way as any other possession: your car, your clothes, your pen, etc. It’s only if you try to copy it that copyright is concerned.
These “naked pulp” books, however, are not actually owned by anyone other than the publisher. Until the publisher (and author) gets paid, then you don’t have ownership and can’t sell it. The book was “returned” to them, so they hold title.
The law does not apply to books that have lost their cover in normal wear and tear. That would exempt most library books, since they have been paid for. In addition, most library books are trade books and thus are never pulped.
Publishers do occasionally sell their paperbacks at a discount. However, they usually punch a hole in the cover. They never sell them coverless because of the possibility of confusion or fraud.
Libraries are also allowed to rebind books (after all, they own them). The issue would be if you had a “naked pulp” book and tried to put a new cover on it. You do not own those, so you can’t legally do it.
*The practice is designed to make it easier for nonbookstores that carry only paperbacks (supermarkets, newsstands, etc.) to get their credit without the expense of shipping the entire book back.
Is that the only unusual markings on the book? I occasionally buy review copies of books, and they usually have a warning similar to that (minus the United States part), so perhaps it is one of those.
I’ve seen exactly the wording in the OP in just about every single paperback book I’ve ever bought in England. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it is on all of them. I’ve often wondered exactly what the “Except in the United States of America” bit means, too.
Hold on… rummages in bag… ah, well, that disproves that theory. McCarthy’s Bar, published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2000, has the stuff about “No part of this publication may be… otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published” etc, but does not have the “Except in the US” part. Odd.
It’s something called the First Sale Doctrine, which is part of U.S. copyright law.
"The “first sale’ doctrine limits the copyright holder’s “distribution right” by providing that once the owner authorizes the release of lawfully made copies of a work, those copies may in turn be passed along to others by sale, rental, loan, gift or other transfer.”
See http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/copyrightb/dmca/dcmasect104.htm
(IAAL, but this is not my area, I don’t have the time this morning to look up the actual statute or case law on this. So my confidence level on this answer is not 100%. But I believe the information I quoted from the linked site is accurate.)
I suppose the idea is that most people will see the warning on normal (i.e. purchased normally with covers intact) books, and thus retain the information. How well it works I don’t know.
What is the law in other English-speaking countries?
In those countries, is it always/sometimes/ever illegal to lend, sell or give away a copyrighted book that you have purchased?
The assist