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Book Ownership in Earlier Periods

Today, the copyright on a novel lasts for the life of the author and for 70 years after the author’s death. Today it is relatively easy to keep track of all this, to act in accordance with the law and to make the necessary decisions. But how did they do it then? What measures did they take and how did they declare their personal property? This topic is actually more interesting than I thought.


I got into this subject because of a phrase I saw in a series I had recently watched. When I researched the phrase I found out where I remembered it from, it was the title of a book I had read. But as I researched it, I realised it was more than that and it caught my attention.

 

As you know, manuscripts were not very common in the Middle Ages. Although they increased over time, most of them were valuable. Sometimes this was because of the paper, which was subjected to difficult processes, and sometimes it was because of the value of what was written on it. So much so that it was no longer known to whom the contents of a manuscript belonged.


There is a common phenomenon that we encounter even in Assyrian or ancient Egyptian times. In the Middle Ages, when religious values and the influence of the clergy were in vogue, curses were just as effective. To prevent this problem, those who saw fit would write various curses on manuscripts. Although at first this was considered commonplace, it began to be applied to valuable books. “Book curses” such as “Whoever steals this book, may he meet death, may he suffer sickness,” were enough to prevent the theft of many books.


Some even went so far as to add their own curses to the back of the manuscripts and books, hoping to be excommunicated or cursed (anathema) by God. Some added a further dimension by embellishing them with rhymes, others with Latin phrases.



When the comic effect of the curses began to wear off, they thought of other ways of creating the logic of ownership. This gave rise to the “book rhymes”. Initially, the thought structure was based on religious values and questions that challenged the conscience of the person who stole. The most common example is the following:


If this book you steal away,

What will you say

On Judgment Day?


Then they thought of rhymes they could use to construct an identity. As a familiar example, which could be modified in the last part, I read the following:


Everytown is my dwelling-place

America is my nation

John Smith is my name



And Christ is my salvation

And heaven my expectation


James Joyce’s “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” (1916), Thornton Wilder’s “Heaven’s My Destination” (1935) and Alfred Bester’s “The Stars My Destination” (that was the phrase I saw in the series) (1956) used these rhymes in their novels or titles. As you can see, it has retained its validity over the years and has become a style. However, the development and widespread use of the printing press led to the replacement of book rhymes with another, perhaps more plausible, style.



This brings us to the subject of “bookplates”, the Latin form of which is “ex-libris” (from books/library), a stamp at the bottom of the first page of a book, usually consisting of a coat of arms, a motto and various individual designs.


When we talk about the rhymes that replaced the curses and the plates that replaced them, we see that they have been in use from the 19th century until today. Initially, different ideas were adopted depending on the time, the purpose of the construction and the materials available. They developed their own methods by inlaying wood, carving and engraving copper strips, making drawings in different colours or printing entirely in black. Over time, they have become a stamp, a seal that declares the ownership of the library, the publisher or the person. Naturally, everyone has endeavoured to make this unique style as elegant and admirable as possible, resulting in ex-libris drawings that are anything but simple.

 

From the seals on wax stamps on letters to indicate the identity of the person, to the monograms and book decorations of famous authors such as Tolkien… From the icons and logos of publishing houses to the choice of colours and styles for our personal belongings…


Whatever the era, the effort to create and preserve identity is still there, we just make contemporary experiments in addition to the traditional structure. We do not lose the desire to create something unique or the desire to do the best. We want to achieve permanence through art, technology, imagination or personal knowledge and skills.


Is it all for the 70 years after death or is it part of personal fulfilment?


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