Ocristo,

Are they books published by Jonathan Cape in the '60s or '70s? I was told that by a pretty knowledgable seller/collector that this was something that Cape did for a time, for reasons unknown.

I have five Cape first editions by my favourite author dating from 1965 to 1974, and all of them have the four corners slightly snipped but with the price intact. But by 1975 they seem to have stopped the practice.