And all my bones are rotten,
When this you see, remember me,
Though I am long forgotten.
This pretty presentation-verse is sometimes met with:—
Take it,—’tis a gift of love
That seeks thy good alone;
Keep it for the giver’s sake,
And read it for thy own.
The early conductors of the press were in the habit of affixing to the end of the volumes they printed some device or couplet concerning the book, with the names of the printer and proof-reader added. The following example is from Andrew Bocard’s edition of The Pragmatic Sanction, Paris, 1507:—
Stet liber, hic donec fluctus formica marinos