Ex Libris

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Mon May 30th, 2011, 3:06 pm

This morning on the way to work I caught the tail end of a blurb about a book someone wrote about bookplates. The book discusses their origins and how they used to be very fancy things with a family's coat of arms. I don't know if it was the author who was talking or someone who was recommending the book, but he said that a lot of people still use bookplates in this ever-growing age of ebooks.

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Mon May 30th, 2011, 3:31 pm

I used to use book plates on my hardback copies, write my name and date inside mass paperbacks and carry my boxes of books from place to place. When I moved to Manhattan and space was a premium, I got over my hoarding, the library and charity shops got regular donations and I stopped using bookplates. Now I use bookplates, but to register books to give away through Bookcrossing. From being a mark of ownership, bookplates have become a means of tracking books on a journey.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Mon May 30th, 2011, 3:54 pm

Great question! Other than textbooks, I haven't written my name in my books or used bookplates since I was a teenager. I really don't know why. Perhaps I should start again!

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Mon May 30th, 2011, 4:34 pm

I remember as a child ordering bookplates for my father as a gift - it was a bigger deal, in the 70s, Having Something Printed like that. He did use a few of them ... but after he died, I inherited the box, still reasonably well stocked. I keep them on the bookshelf I built with him. I haven't used any of them myself. (After all these years, the adhesive probably wouldn't work in any case.)

The book sounds interesting. Tried a quick search to find the title, but came up with nothing. It'd be nice to find the book itself!

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Mon May 30th, 2011, 5:05 pm

Diane...

Ex Libris: The Art of Bookplates by Martin Hopkinson

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon May 30th, 2011, 5:27 pm

None of the poll answers work for me. I have used bookplates sporadically, but not in any sort of systematic way. I write my name and address in books if I'm traveling with them or if I loan them out. But I'm too disorganized to have a systematic plan that I apply consistently.

I have some bookplates based on Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for Malory's Morte D'Arthur that I bought years ago when I was on a Malory kick and really loved the Beardsley illustrations. I put some of them in a few of my books, but can no longer remember the rationale for which books I put them in. Probably ones with some type of Arthurian-related subject matter. I still like the bookplates, but am not as crazy about them as I used to be.

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Mon May 30th, 2011, 5:32 pm

Thank you, Rowan!

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Tue May 31st, 2011, 3:43 pm

These are the bookplates I use for the ones that I want to keep always:

Go here: http://www.lfla.org/store/product-detai ... r-Readers/

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Tue May 31st, 2011, 4:34 pm

They're nice ones, Telynor. My first bookplates had kittens on them and the ones I have now have elephants. I think I would probably tend to put them in hardbacks more than paperbacks that I intend keeping forever.

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Wed June 1st, 2011, 11:48 pm

I've never had bookplates but I intend to someday when I have my library. Might get the ones Telynor has.

Historical Fiction Online

Ex Libris

Do you use bookplates in your books?

Ex Libris