I have a book by the author, Nicholas Monsarrat, titled, 'The Tribe That Lost Its Head'. While reading through the book, I had a shock to discover a lock of hair between some pages! The first thing that came to mind is that no one will ever use their hair as a bookmark, so could it be the own author's hair? Creative people are eccentric. I do not know how to verify this. Could someone please point me in the right direction. I want to seriously know this as I want it properly valued and auction it if it's confirmed. It's a hardcover with dust jacket and a first edition.

Nicholas Monsarrat was buried at sea after his death in 1979, so I'm thinking you are out of luck trying to find out if that's his lock of hair.

And it is common for grandparents or parents to save clippings of their kids hair. Or a girl friend or boyfriend keeps a lock or hair.

Can you prove this book belonged to the author, is it autographed ?

Years ago,I worked in a public library. Among the things we found used as bookmarks were (very personal) letters, a rasher of bacon (cooked), a wedding ring and an engagement ring. The last two were not connected! So a lock of hair as a bookmark is maybe not so strange...