At one time, I had so many cookbooks I had to store them here and there all over the house; on several sets of bookshelves, in a microwave cart, in a back bedroom, in my living room, even under the bed.
One time, I gave away more than 30. Quite a few of my favorites that were borrowed by others, sort of disappeared. As Murphy’s law would have it, once I purchased replacements for the lost ones, most of the people who borrowed the originals ended up finally returning them. I just said, “Well, you can keep it now. I got a new one.” It wasn’t that big of a deal, and I am always glad to encourage the art of cooking, so I wasn’t complaining as much as sharing something I thought was a bit funny.
For a while, I used book plates printed with my name on them, to remind borrowers where the books came from. I am not sure anyone does that anymore. Some people just have a policy of not lending out their books.