Others have expressed their sentiments in moral platitudes:
“C’est la meilleure munition que j’aye trouvé à cet humain voyage.”—Montaigne. (Bibliothèque de M. le Baron de T——.)
“Le plaisir de l’esprit passe celui des yeux.” (De la Bibliothèque de M. de Cailly.)
“Un livre est un ami qui ne change jamais.”—On the plate of Guilbert de Pixérécourt, and others.
“Les lettres nourissent l’âme.”—Lemoine.
“S’occuper c’est savoir jouir.”—A. E. Tscharner, and others.
“Amis vieux sont bons en tous lieux.”
But one of the most useful axioms is that borrowed from “Menagiana” vol. iv.: “La première chose qu’on doit faire quand on à emprunté un livre, c’est de le lire afin de pouvoir le rendre plutot.” Hugo de Bassville employed this, with the addition of “Rendez le livre s’il vous plait,” whilst such ardent book-lovers as David Garrick and George Augustus Sala have placed it on their book-plates; it figures also with perfect propriety on the fine ex-libris of the “Bibliothèque de la Providence” (the French Protestant Hospital at Victoria Park), and on those of Frederick Le Mesurier, and John Meybohm.
Following these come a long list of verses directed against book borrowers in general, commencing with the verse attributed to Guilbert de Pixérécourt, although he does not use it on his book-plate:
“Tel est le triste sort
De tout livre preté
Souvent il est perdu,
Toujours il est gâté.”