I found a signature from a famous American that almost matches his signature from the end of his life. But why would he OWN something british?
Actually only the two on bottom. Both are john Adam's, the highlight one is a later SIGNATURE and was suffering from an illness. The three first letters are identical and last LETTER ITS AN s, the problem is the REST ARE a blob of ink.
WHY ARE SOME PAGES WATERMARKED WITH THE YEAR 1809. ALSO INITIALLY I THOUGHT IT HAD WATER DAMAGE BUT IT LOOKS LIKE IT MAY HAVE WRITING. OR ERASED WRITING. COULD IT BE PRINTED ON REUSED PAPER? ALSO MOST PAGES HAVE A PAGE NUMBER BUT A FEW THRU OUT THE BOOK HAVE A LETTER NEXT TO A NUMBER ON BOTTOM. WHAT IS THAT FOR?
Does this mean that Its an earlier printing than what it says or just an authenricidy mark. Like money to ensure it's a real and original printing?
The paper marks are more a trademark for the paper maker. The paper marks are a great tool to determine the age of a book when other options fail. Most paper marks do not have the year attached, so you can look them up at sites like this: https://www.memoryofpaper.eu Jehan (Jean) Goualt - Troyes France from a book of 1578.
The paper was folded and cut after printing. In your case 8 papes form one sheet of paper, the Sheets have letters, the pages are numered, its a help for the binder and nowadays to see If everything ist complete A1-8,B1-8, then Aa1-8 Ab1-8 etc. This folding ist also the reason why not every page has a watermark. Its not uncommon that different Papiers were used or that the paper lay somewhere in storage before the book was printed. Its a nice book, but I dont see anything extraordinary.