| What do you collect? | Fashion + Jewelry | Watches + Clocks | Pottery + Glass | Furniture + Home | Art + Photos | Music + Movies | Toys + Games | Sports | Coins + Stamps | Paper + Books | Ads + Signs | Autos + Transport | Eras + Decades | Other » |
Bookplates, also known by the term ex-libris, evolved over centuries from simple inscriptions to printed woodcuts to an artistic medium that has attracted world-class artists and illustrators. Bookplate mania in America and England peaked from 1890 to about 1920.
Bookplates are highly collectible (although there's some debate about removing them from vintage books), and many collectors focus on specialized topics or themes. These can range from era (e.g. 18th or 19th centuries) to subjects portrayed (e.g. professions, activities, animals, nature), to associations with famous people, places and institutions (e.g. coats of arms, signed plates), and designs or artistic merit.
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t read books. In grade school, I devoured library books. I also loved… [more]
Special collections is where we keep non-circulating rare materials which have to be used in the reading room… [more]
I started working as the curator of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature in 1994, but I’… [more]
Bookplate mania in America and England peaked from 1890 to about 1920. That's when the really great collectio… [more]
I’m a packrat, so in 1995, I was itching to collect something. I went around to local flea markets here bec… [more]
Lewis Jaffe's homage to the bookplate. Lots of scrolling, but worth it for the great scans, plus commentary on a wi… [read review or visit site]
Greg Kindall's collection of over 2100 colorful and historic book labels, pasted into books by publishers, printers… [read review or visit site]
Want to do one quick search and pull up the mother lode of vintage books? Try Google Book Search, a database filled… [read review or visit site]
If you’re interested in collectible childrens books, check out this special digital collection from the Universit… [read review or visit site]
This archive of 76 influential American cookbooks from the late 1700s to early 1900s, assembled by the Michigan St… [read review or visit site]
This great blog, by an anonymous mom in Texas, is an ongoing bibliography of hundreds of vintage childrens books, c… [read review or visit site]
This Flickr photo pool features over 2,000 photos and scans of vintage cookbooks and old recipes from the 1940s to … [read review or visit site]
This visually interesting and highly specialized collection from the Hawaii Karate Museum focuses on rare and histo… [read review or visit site]
This Smithsonian microsite showcases Czech avant-garde book cover designs from the 1920s and 30s, complete with hig… [read review or visit site]
Bruce Black's gallery of paperback book covers from the 1940s and 50s. With help from numerous contributors, he's a… [read review or visit site]
Got a site to suggest? Let us know.
Are we missing one? Tell us.
