A former shepherd of the printed flocks in the library of a neighboring town relates an incident illustrating a singular form of book borrowing, the offender being a divine. Passionately fond of books, he would take them home, forgetting to return them, and when interrogated would always find a happy excuse, the store of borrowed books meanwhile accumulating. “A scholar and a man of exemplary character and fine sensibilities, I did not wish to wound his feelings by an imperative demand, being convinced from what I knew of him, that it was a slight lesion rather than a fracture of the mind which caused the delinquency. I therefore awaited his departure, and one morning, driving to his home with a buggy and a basket, I took possession of the borrowed volumes. He never referred to it. I do not think he even missed them. His passion was the joy of first readings, and he was proverbially forgetful.”
My scintillant and learned friend the Doctor, who for years graced the Greek chair at the University, and whose name is a household word among scholars, as his presence is a ray of sunlight wherever he appears, contributes this supplement to the lexicon of the book-lover. The general reader will skip this passage; the bibliophile will thank him:
Bibliodæmon: a book-fiend or demon.
Bibliophage }
Bibliocataphage } a book-eater or devourer.
Biblioleter }
Bibliopollyon } a book-destroyer, ravager, or waster.
Bibliophthor }
Biblioloigos: a book-pest or plague.
Bibliolestes }