“Aspice Pierrot pendu
Quod librum n’a pas rendu.
Pierrot pendu non fuisset,
Si librum reddidisset.”
Or, in Alsatian German:
“Dieses Büchlein ist mir lieb,
Wer mir’s nimmt, der ist ein Dieb,
Wer mir’s aber wieder bringt,
Der ist ein Gotteskind.”
Or, he would descend into trivial details, thus:
“Je mets ici mon nom
Ce n’est pas sans raison
C’est pour plaire aux curieux
Et non pas aux envieux
De ce Livre tant beau
Qui eclaire comme un flambeau
Tout homme savant
Aussi bien que l’ignorant
Michel Dupray
son livre
acheté le 26 de Juillet
1775
chez Wagstaff 9 Sols”
Finally, arrived at a mature age, he would order a book-plate,
inscribing on it an expression of his love for literature in some such
manner as did M. Leonis Schück, upon his ex-libris designed by Hirsch:
“C’est par l’amour des lettres qu’il faut être conduit à l’amour
des livres.
“O mes chers livres! Je les ai tous choisis un à un, et je les aime
tant!”
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.”
(On the book-plate of Louis Mohr, 1879. See page 237.)
The two epigrams below were written by Guillaume Colletet, and have been
quoted on several ex-libris, though curiously enough their author did
not use one, but was content to sign his name in his books, which were
numerous:
“A MES LIVRES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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