The Book-Lover’s Litany.
From set spoilers and book borrowers, and from such as read in bed,
Kind Fate protect us.
From plate sneaks, portrait flickers, map tearers and from book thieves,
Kind Fate protect us.
From such as read with unwashed hands; from careless sneezers, snuff takers, and rheum voiders; from tobacco-ash droppers, grease slingers, and moth smashers; from leaf pressers and all unclean beasts,
Kind Fate protect us.
From margin slashers, letter-press clippers and page misplacers; from half-title wasters, original-cover losers, and lettering mis-spellers; from gilt daubers and all the tribe of botcher-binders,
Kind Fate protect us.
From heat and damp; from fire and mildew; from bookworms, flies and moths,