INSCRIPTIONS IN BOOKS.
It occurs to me that an interesting collection might be formed of the various forms and methods by which the ownership of books is sometimes found to be asserted on their fly-leaves. Borrowers are exhorted to faithful restitution; and consequences are threatened to those who misuse, or fail to return, or absolutely steal the valued literary treasure.
I forward a few such Notes as have fallen in my way, thinking they may interest your readers, and shall be obliged by any additions. The first is an admonition to borrowers, by no means a superfluous one, as I know to my cost. It is printed on a small paper, about the size of an ordinary book-plate, with blank for the owner's name, to be filled up in manuscript:
"This Book
Belongs to . . . . . .
"If thou art borrowed by a friend,
Right welcome shall he be
To read, to study—not to lend,
But to return to me.
"Not that imparted knowledge doth
Diminish learning's store;
But books, I find, if often lent,
Return to me no more.
. . . . . .
"Give your attention as you read,
And frequent pauses take;
Think seriously; and take good heed
That you no dog's-ears make.
"Don't wet the fingers, as you turn
The pages, one by one.
Never touch prints, observe: and learn
Each idle gait to shun."
On the fly-leaf of a Bible I find the following, which, however, is taken from The Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome, vol. ii. p. 198. No 15., dated Friday, Dec. 26, 1679:
"Sancte Liber! venerande Liber! Liber optime, salve!
O Animæ nostræ, Biblia dimidium!"
A very common formula, in works of a devotional nature, is as follows:
"This is Giles Wilkinson his book.
God give him grace therein to look."
We now come to some of a menacing description:
"Si quis hunc furto rapiet libellum,
Reddat:—aut collo dabitur capistrum,
Carnifex ejus tunicas habebit,
Terra cadaver."
And again:
"Si quis hunc librum rapiat scelestus,
Atque furtivis manibus prehendat,
Pergat ad tetras Acherontis undas
Non rediturus."
These last partake somewhat of the character of the diræ and anathemas which are sometimes found at the end of old MSS., and were prompted, doubtless, by the great scarcity and consequent value of books before the invention of printing.
Balliolensis.