Talk:Book curse

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Books

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Misunderstanding of a curse[edit]

In the section on mediaeval curses, the following text and quotation appears:

According to the British Library, a Monk from Rochester took the 'Anathema' so far that he condemned the entire community if his book was stolen or damaged.^[1]
A volume of Aristotle’s Physics from the monastery of Rochester by John, prior of Rochester: whosoever steals this book from the monastery, conceals it, or erases this inscription, he incurs the curse of ‘Anathema’ for one long year from the Priory and the entire community of the Chapter of Rochester.

^ "Frying pans, forks and fever: Medieval book curses - Medieval manuscripts blog". blogs.bl.uk. Retrieved 2020-11-30.

The quoted curse clearly states that the thief will incur a curse from "the entire community" — but the text claims that the curse "condemns the entire community". I don't see any way to ciorrect this while keeping the text and quotation of any interest. I've moved the text here. Any comments?

Incidentally, in the same section this text appears:

Since Nabu first used his own name to invoke a book curse, this practice has evolved. Using the book owner’s name has changed from medieval to modern times as a way to mark ownership of books. After the invention of the printing press, to protect books, hand-written book curses evolved into printed bookplates that were pasted to the front covers of books, usually styled ex libris, then to the owner’s name.^[1] This practice has changed again back to using handwritten names on the interior front cover of books.

^ “Book Curses.” (2016). The American Bookbinders Museum. Retrieved November 27, 2019

This rather broad brush, and offers no supporting evidence. It seems to be an extrapolation from some people's custom to a general practice. Bibliosporias (talk) 20:43, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Book curses in other languages[edit]

In Czech, a common book curse is: "Kdo tu knihu ukradne, tomu ruka upadne" ("Whoever steals this book, may his hand fall off") [1]; perhaps in in part a superstitious curse, and in part originally a serious threat of a medieval punishment of amputation of a limb for theft. Example of ex libris with this warning: [2]. A more creative curse is attested: "Kdo ty knihy ukradne mně, bodaj měl tolik zimnic, jako je v Praze pivnic." ("Who steals these books from me, may he have so many fevers, as there are pubs in Prague".) [3] - Mike Rosoft (talk) 14:29, 20 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

[1] "Frying pans, forks and fever: Medieval book curses - Medieval manuscripts blog". blogs.bl.uk. Retrieved 2020-11-30.

[2] “Book Curses.” (2016). The American Bookbinders Museum. Retrieved November 27, 2019

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