Authors:

Great collections of books are subject to certain accidents besides the damp, the worms, and the rats; one not less common is that of the borrowers, not to say a word of the purloiners

"Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p. 81, Curiosities of Literature, The Bibliomania, 1922.
Great collections of books are subject to certain accidents besides the damp, the worms, and the rats; one not less common is that of the borrowers, not to say a word of the purloiners