As for the one in the middle: I wonder why anyone would bother putting a bookplate in a book without bothering to fill in the blank where a name goes. Defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
Sunday, May 8, 2011
LEFT INSIDE: Bookplate Medley
A variety of bookplates today. The one with Tim Waters' name came from a Sax Rohmer book I got in a large lot of Rohmer books at a Missouri book auction many years ago. Each book had his name written inside. This plate was loosely affixed inside a Fu Manchu book and fell out over time.
As for the one in the middle: I wonder why anyone would bother putting a bookplate in a book without bothering to fill in the blank where a name goes. Defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
As for the one in the middle: I wonder why anyone would bother putting a bookplate in a book without bothering to fill in the blank where a name goes. Defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
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I like the one with the sunset...even though, unlike the others, there is nothing in the image itself (not counting "ex libris") to indicate books.
ReplyDeleteTakes me back to an era when a book was an object of wonder and and a prized possession, before the age of airport paperbacks and e-readers. Well, it's Monday. Everyone's grumpy on Monday.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Grumpy, I'm Sleepy. Nevermind. I can understand the bookplate-with-no-name. Since most bookplates are unique enough that friends and neighbors and others who might wish to borrow a book would have none or a different one, the bookplate itself was enough to identify the owner in most cases. I had bookplates bought from Antioch, that were preprinted with my initials, which I guess is a compromise. I never used one as an adult, but as a youngster thought they were pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteRick -
ReplyDeleteI won't ask about the dwarf allusion. Must refer to something on someone's blog I missed.
I have a boxful of Antioch bookplates I found at an estate sale. I was planning to write about them when I had the time to do a little research about the company. I always sthought bookplates were cool when I was younger, too.
Someone once gave me a book embosser as a birthday gift years ago. It had my initials and the usual "From the Library Of" circling the fancy monogram. I started to stamp all my books (only the modern ones, nothing that was vintage) until I realized that it immediately made them "unsellable" should I ever want to make some quick cash. So I stopped personalizing my books. Now that embosser sits in a drawer somewhere completely forgotten and abandoned. Since then I've never been fond of marking or personalizing my books in any way.
I too thought bookplates were pretty cool; that is until I realized that in using them I was devaluing my collection. Besides, it was all vanity - can't even remember the last time someone asked to borrow a book.
ReplyDeleteI love these. I recently found some of my older books with my old bookplate in them - from my married days. Tried to scratch them out. HA! I love the whole idea of book plates even if they do hurt the value of first/firsts.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to do a post on vintage bookplates. There really are some lovely examples out there.
The dwarf line was following the previous comment's last line by Carol.
ReplyDeleteI had a book embosser also, and used it a few times until I had the same realization.