You Should Have a Bookplate
The art of bookplates and why you will want one
In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented a new and more effective way of spreading big ideas. The Gutenberg Press’s modular, movable type design scaled knowledge, fueling the Renaissance and scientific thought. Books became more accessible, portable, and a hit with curious people. Everything was great until new book owners bumped against an old problem. Thieves.
The need to show ownership made anyone with a library realize they needed something to perpetually pester the conscious of a book thief. This is how the bookplate was born. The Latin phrase for a bookplate is ex libris or “from the library of.” Essentially, a bookplate is a label inside a book featuring a printed design stating who the book belongs to. If you’ve never heard of a bookplate, you’re not alone. It’s a niche tradition. As I dug deeper, I discovered I was only scratching the surface of a bookplate’s purpose.
A bookplate is a label inside a book featuring a printed design stating who the book belongs to.
The first book I came across was this collection of bookplates. Beautiful designs, fascinating to look at, but I needed to find out more. Who would commission them? Who designed them? What was their process? Determined to find out, I visited the basement of High Valley Books and found The Art of the Bookplate. This book allowed me to dive into the mind, life, and process of bookplate designer Rockwell Kent.
Who should own bookplates according to Ken:
“To those who are in no sense book collectors, who have never realized that good books like good friends ought to be kept, the mere possession of a personal book plate will be an invitation to acquire good books to paste them into, and a stimulant to pride in ownership. It is for them that book plates are designed.”
How to get a bookplate according to Kent:
“The best way by all odds is to pick a good designer; confide to him as data the story of your life, your likes, your aspirations. And for the hundreds of dollars, which it may cost, commissioning him to design a book plate that shall be yours alone. That is the best way to get a book plate. And the next best way—a very good way too—is to get one ready made.”
I quickly discovered bookplates could be more than just a symbol of ownership. They represent something else far more personal. They are a place where art, design, and love for knowledge intersect. Bookplates are a way to attach oneself to a book forever. Eventually, they become an artifact of your life. Adding a bookplate to your books is a sign that you don’t just like your books, you love your books.
A book without a plate is, to me, like a child waiting to be adopted. Any man really loving a book wants to tighten his bonds with it, honor it and treat it with respect. He wants to show that he has had it as a friend, and to make it that much different from the many other copies of the same book.
—Mark S. Severn, Making a Bookplate
A bookplate can be designed to be as unique as we are. It can display our values, aspirations, curiosities, and interests. Or it can simply say, “I was here, and this belonged to me.” This is why, if you don’t have one, I believe you need one. Well, that is if you really love your books. ⚜️
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Thank you so much for reading.
This is so interesting and informative; I never knew there was such a thing as a bookplate. I do have some favourite books, but once I am gone, I don't think my kids have the same taste in books, nor the space to keep my collection. So; this bookplate is for my own ego, or is there another purpose? Are there collectiors of books with bookplates? Are any of those marked books still around? It does sound like a fun idea.