“Sum Liber…”

How often, after an old piece of furniture or an old book has been examined, have we heard the exclamation: “What a story it could tell if it could speak!” Who was the first owner and where did he live? How long did he keep it? Did it descend in his family as an heirloom, or was it sold, and if so, what new circumstances attended its history? I wonder how much national as well as personal history would have to be rewritten if the inanimate objects of bygone ages which exist in our museums and libraries to‐day could tell us their life histories.