INDEPENDENCE, MO. ? Officials at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library say they would love to offer a home for a notebook the late president used during his law school days.

Sotheby’s of New York had expected the notebook to fetch $40,000 to $60,000 at an auction Friday. That was a bit steep for the library or for the library’s nonprofit support group, the Harry S. Truman Library Institute.

But the auction house said the Truman notebook did not sell at the auction because it failed to reach the reserve price, which it did not disclose. The bidding stopped at $17,000.

“Our hope is the owner may approach the library and want to see it preserved here for researchers to use and enjoy,” said Mark Beveridge, who cares for the museum’s collection, documentation and records. “If it didn’t sell, it would be a wonderful thing for them to consider donating to the Truman Presidential Museum and Library.”

Selby Kiffer, a senior vice president in Sotheby’s books and manuscripts department, said the auction house would hold the notebook for a brief period to see if there was any post-sale interest and look into arranging a private sale. If neither effort produces a sale, the notebook would be returned to the consigner, a Michigan collector who bought it from Sotheby’s in 1979.

Kiffer said he hadn’t spoken with the owner about the possibility of donating the notebook that Truman kept while taking night law classes in the 1920s. Truman never finished law school.

“To find any important relic or manuscript from so early in a politician’s career is unusual,” Kiffer said. “There is very little material of Truman’s from the 1920s that comes to the market.”