Of lenders of books
Among the aphorisms of Polonius, neither a borrower nor a lender be is a precept with which all bibliophiles concur, even when their acts do not accord with its wisdom. 'T is the general humour of many book-lovers to seclude their books, introducing them to a favoured few, but rarely permitting another even to touch them; they are not to be made common by any familiarity except that of their owner. There is a particular excuse for such parsimony in our own time, for those who have no inclination to possess their own books have many chances of borrowing them from those institutions specially set up for that purpose; or, should they wish to posses them, the bookseller is accessible and books are cheap. For the rest, and in justice to these jealous ones, a book becomes a part of its owner; it is not for profane eyes or hands, and if it be a rare volume the perils of lending are greater...
H Jackson. The Anatomy of Bibliomania.
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