Reading Copy Book Blog

The Australian newspaper has a ‘collectables’ column on bookplates.

A bookplate, or “ex libris” (”from the library of”), is a printed slip of paper usually glued inside the front pages of a book to identify its owner. The term “bookplate” was first used by John Ireland in the 1791 publication Hogarth Illustrated. While many bookplates are simple and serve no further purpose than identifying ownership, others were commissioned from significant artists by interesting historical, literary or political figures and can be fine artistic works in their own right. Like stamps, they are compact and easy to display. Many hold local and international interest, and can prove profitable as international trading commodities.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 8:51 am and is filed under antiquarian, books, collecting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.