Bookplates,
also known as ex-libris, have since the 15th century been placed
in books to declare ownership. Many artists, some famous such as
William Hogarth, Aubrey Beardsley and John Piper, have designed
bookplates, and many significant people
(e.g. Samuel Pepys and Rudyard Kipling) have used them, but a personal
bookplate has been available to anyone owning a library and wishing
to place in the books a printed design as a mark of possession.
Founded in 1972, The Bookplate Society is the direct descendant
of the world's first such organisation, the Ex Libris Society, 1891-1908,
and its creation and successor, the Bookplate Exchange Club. So now in 2012 we
are celebrating the Society's 40th anniversary.
Our purpose is to encourage the production, use, collecting, and study
of bookplates. We achieve this through our publications, lectures,
visits to collections, members' auctions, social meetings, and exhibitions.
VISIT OUR STALL ON 13 MAY 2012
BLOOMSBURY BOOK FAIR, LONDON
MAYBE YOU WISH TO JOIN THE SOCIETY ?
COME ALONG AND LEARN MORE
We are offering a good selection of bookplates and books about bookplates at this London book fair in mid-May. Copies of our newly published book on the Bookplates of Miss C Helard
will be available (cover image above), also the Spring 2012 issue of the Society's journal. You will be able to look through our publications (journals and books) and find out about the benefits of membership.
Existing members will find items of interest to them also.
For location, map and time see the News and Events page.
THE FRANKS CATALOGUE IS NOW DIGITIZED AND AVAILABLE ONLINE
Library staff in Toronto have earned our warmest thanks by converting into digital form the Catalogue of the Franks Collection of British and American Bookplates in the
British Museum Department of Prints and Drawings. Rather than paying out £400 or more for ever-scarcer copies of this important reference work, you can now find it online.
Each of the three volumes can be downloaded free of charge, without copyright restriction, in PDF format, which is partly searchable. Alternatively, you may flip through
the pages online (but not downloadable). The links to the three volumes are:
VOL.1 A-G
VOL.2 H-R and
VOL.3 S-W, Bookplates of Institutions, and Heraldic Index .
RECENT CHANGES TO THIS WEBSITE
We have discovered that a paper fault affected a number of copies of our Spring 2012 journal. Our printers have apologised and steps are in hand to remedy the situation.
Members should please look at the News and Events page for more details (given under our description of the contents of that journal).
We are celebrating in 2012 the 40th anniversary of the founding of The Bookplate Society. For more on this, plus
details of our Spring 2012 issue of The Bookplate Journal see the News and Events page.
The listing for our members auction on 14 April 2012, plus prices realised, is now posted on the Members Area page.
A collection of European Ex-libris auctioned by Dominic Winter in November 2011 went unsold but subsequently found buyers - see our News and Events page.
The Winter 2011/12 Newsletter was mailed to members in January.
The Autumn 2011 edition of The Bookplate Journal was mailed to members in the last week of October.
At last, the long-delayed March 2009 issue of The Bookplate Journal has seen the light of day. Our thanks go to John Blatchly for stepping in to assemble
this. It was sent out with the Autumn 2011 journal to those members who subscribed for 2009. Details of the contents of these
two journals appear on the News and Events page.
The March 2009 issue is of interest to non-members because it reprints the Studio Winter Number 1898/99 on
Modern Book-Plates, with particular attention to Art Nouveau items.
It is worth mentioning that there exists a vibrant market in bookplates on eBay.
|
