pegkerr | Curses for those who would mistreat books (Reply)

Here is a great post by Midori Snyder at the

Perhaps because it is almost Halloween, perhaps it's because I am teaching E.A. Poe at the moment, but I was ghastly, gaunt, and ghoulishly delighted that in addition to identifying the owner of a book (see the post below), bookplates also carried curses along with the art to warn messy readers of the fate that awaits them should they mark up or dog-ear the owner's book. (Oh I am so going to hell for those two!). Here's a good example of what you might expect should you damage a book of C. J. Peacock:

Who folds a leafe downe
ye divel toaste browne
who makes marke or blotte
ye divel roaste hotte
who stealeth thisse booke
ye divel shall cooke.
The Virginia Commonwealth Universities Library preservation department has a nice collection of more curses (the especially harsh ones reserved for those who would steal a book!). My favorite comes from the Monastery of San Pedro in Barcelona:
For him that stealeth a book from this library,
let it change into a serpent in his hand & rend him.
Let him be struck with palsy, & all his members blasted.
Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy, &
let there be no surcease to his agony till he sink to dissolution.
Let bookworms gnaw his entrails
in token of the Worm that dieth not,
& when at last he goeth to his final punishment,
let the flames of hell consume him forever & aye.