Bookplate

Transcription of the bookplate in my father's copy of Quo Vadis:

On the Return of a Book Lent to a Friend

I give humble and hearty thanks for the safe return of this book which having endured the perils of my friend's bookcase, and the bookcases of my friend's friends, now returns to me in reasonably good condition.

I give humble and hearty thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant as a plaything, nor to use it as an ashtray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething ring for his mastiff.

When I lent this book I deemed it as lost: I was resigned to the bitterness of the long parting: I never though to look upon its pages again.

But now that my book is come back to me, I rejoice and am exceeding glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honour: for this my book was lent, and is returned again.

Presently, therefore, I may return some of the books that I myself have borrowed.

I do not particularly care for the book, but I desperately covet this plate.