MIDDLE AGES CURSE ON BOOK THIEVES
" For him that stealeth or borroweth
and returneth not,
this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend
him."
" Let him be struck with palsy and
his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy
and let there be no surcease to his agony... Let bookworms gnaw his
entrails... and when at last he goeth
to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever"
Bookplate
from the monastery of San Pedro
Barcelona,
Spain