Those crazy monks

I finished my introductory class and started my first "real class" tonight. I'm reading about the history of libraries and, oh man, this stuff is great.

During the 9th century, monastaries would loan books to laypeople, but they were really hard on them about returning the books. (People had to leave a book of their own for collateral and the monks would excommunicate them or place a curse on their heads if they didn't return the books.) My professor tells us there's a wonderful old curse that goes:

"For him that stealeth, or borrow and returneth not this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, cry aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony til he sing his dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of hell consume him forever."

How great is that? I'm going to hang that up in the book cabinet in my classroom!

Also, do you know anything about Melvil Dewey? One of this week's articles says, "If you think 'Melvil' is a strange spelling, it is. His name was 'Melville,' but he was such a fanatic about time-wasting that he devised his own spelling system to eliminate superfluous letters. So he dropped the last two letters of his first name. He even tried to promote his last name as 'Dui,' but that was too much." He was a rebel, too. He wasn't about to do things the way he was expected to by his superiors. 

Who knew the fun to be had in the history of libraries? Oh wow. I can't wait to read the rest!