Because most philosophies that frown on reproduction don't survive.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Neither a borrower nor a lender be

From a Japanese bookplate, ca. 1470:
To steal this book closes the gates of heaven,
And to destroy it opens the gates of hell.
Anyone who takes this book without permission
Will be punished by all the gods of Japan.
Found in a book I took from my mother's house.

3 comments:

TC said...

But, but . . . information wants to be FREEEEeeee!

Julia said...

Ummm, did you take it with permission, or not?

MrsDarwin said...

Weeeell, she told me once that I could take whatever I wanted from the shelves, so I considered this to fall under that permission. It was a book about bookplates.