To me this is a tough one.
Personally I prefer stuff kept as-is unless there's a good reason to make changes. Even some of the semi-junk I've gotten over the years I've kept as original as possible - like card sets I got through the mail that I've kept in the original packing.
But I also do some stuff with old magazines which is a closer analogy. I've bought a lot of them, most from one source. Some are in great condition, and hopefully if the kids don't want them years from now, someone else will.
But others... Some were in bad condition already, others were partly cut up by the guy I got them from as source material for his nostalgia magazine.
Do I take ads or articles out of the nice ones? No, just won't do that.
Do I take ads or articles out of the ones that are missing portions/covers/ etc already? Yes, I do. Not always something I do in a hurry, sometimes the thing I want would damage a better item if it was cut, so it's a choice.
I'd have probably kept the book together.
But it was missing the covers, and the top page was a bit rough.
If it was the only one, I'd think it would be best if it stayed together. If there are others from the same year that are nicer, or at least complete, then maybe.
I don't buy the argument that a seller is "providing people a chance to own a piece of something they couldn't afford" That's just justifying. (And my other reasons fringe on politics, so I'll avoid that. If you have to know, just email me)
I also only partly get the "it's mine to do as I wish" Yeah, it is. But it was here before you, and without being broken up would be here long after you and I are gone. The cards the Goudey co burned to heat the building were theirs to do that, but I'm sure we all wish they hadn't (except maybe anyone who owns an uncut sheet...) A lot of what we collect wasn't really intended to be kept for years, but I'm sure we're all glad it was. That we can be custodians of those things so they're there for future generations is pretty cool.
Now, there are exceptions. When the Smithsonian restored at least a couple of the cloth covered planes they partly funded the restoration by selling photos of the plane framed along with a one inch square of the original cloth covering. At the time that old cloth would have rotted away at the Garber facility that was shot on storage, or been thrown away. And having a textile mill create a short run of the exact fabric was probably really expensive. (I've seen where another museum did something similar, but had a bunch of the cloth made and offered it to owners of the same sort of plane. )
So OP, yes, yours to do as you wish, and it's been broken up now so not much point. But I'd ask you one thing.... Take some of the money and rescue some bit of the past from some sort of inevitable oblivion. There's a lot out there, I used to find it pretty often, and for very little. Like some route salesmans books and some letters and other paperwork from a 7-up bottler that was at an estate sale - on the floor behind the furnace, with other "trash" they would have thrown away the next day. Not really valuable, but interesting. I got the whole pile for I think $5.
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