…the home of ex libris bookplates and other rare and collectible book labels.
Bookplates and ex libris are rightly admired today as miniature works of art allowing collectors to build an affordable collection of original and often signed art works in a variety of print techniques such as etching, woodblock, intaglio and aquatint.
- A Guide to the Various Types of Ex Libris
One of the most interesting examples of a portrait bookplate is that of Samuel Pepys, the famous Diarist. The plate, which was engraved by Robert White after one of the portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, seems to have been originally used as a frontispiece for Memoirs of the Navy which the owner privately printed in 1690. - Art Deco Ex Libris by Lynd Ward
This striking Art Deco bookplate entitled “Creation” and used by a certain David Adams is by Chicago-born Lynd Ward (1905 – 1985), the American artist and illustrator best known for his wood engraving and his work in launching the graphic novel in the United States. - Ex Libris Linocut by Jana Krejčová
This delightful colour linocut ex libris is by the renowned Czech graphic designer and bookplate artist Jana Krejčová. Signed and dated 1987 by the artist in pencil just below the design, the reverse carries the studio stamp and the technique identification code (X3) for linocut prints. - Ex Libris of Famous American Historical FiguresWhilst not all the famous names – “authors, poets, statesmen, theologians, orators, financiers and educationalists” – listed in Clifford N. Carver’s 1911 book celebrating the ‘Book-Plates of Well-Known Americans’ may be household names today, the text is still a fascinating source of interest to the modern ex libris collector and an excellent illustrated catalogue of bookplate design.
- Focus on Bookplate Artist Amy Sacker
Boston book designer, illustrator and teacher Amy Maria Sacker (1872-1965) was one of several bookplate artists to be celebrated by the Troutsdale Press and bookseller Charles E. Goodspeed – also from Boston – in a series of short volumes dedicated to the work of ex libris designers of the day. - Focus on Bookplate Artist E. B. BirdAt the beginning of the last century the Boston-based publisher Troutsdale Press published several small volumes on the work of bookplate artists of the day including a 1904 study of the work of Elisha Brown Bird (1867-1943) in ‘E. B. Bird and his Bookplates’ by Winfred Porter Truesdell.
