Does anyone in this group place book plates into thie Folio books? If you do where do you purchase them? I have been thinking about this but any book plates I see do not look worthy of a Folio. Perhaps none are worthy. Any thoughts would be appreciative.

I don't think I'll be putting book plates into my Folio books.

I have this bookplate

http://mkupperman2.files.wordpress.com/2...

but can't imagine that it'd be appropriate...

What would be the purpose? I suppose at one time bookplates were used when people loaned their books to friends and family, to try to establish ownership later. I have found this doesn't work very well--I have several books that are permanently missing from my library because I loaned them to friends and family, and now they can't even find them. If the person to whom you loan a bokk is responsible, you'll get it back without a need for a bookplate.

Bookplates take time to put in, they can possibly cause problems with the book's binding depending on the type of adhesive used; if you have decorative endpapers, it is an aesthetic mistake to cover them with a bookplate, and it lowers the value from a collector standpoint--unless you are at least as famous, or more famous, than the author.

I wouldn't.

Not for me. I don't like book plates, although I don't mind them terribly in books I buy (that is, they aren't going to be the sole reason why I won't buy a book for myself).

I use an ex libris stamp (less than two inches high) on some books, but not the Folios (which, after all, often have illustrated endpapers).

I like bookplates, although I have not yet gotten around to putting them into my Folio books. The picture on my profile page is one that my wife commissioned for me, and, perhaps much to Django's horror, are the ones I put in my LEC books.

I see book plates as a sense of posterity. If someone has a book of mine 100 years from now, and I know this might be optomistically, then it gives a sense of origin. I know in books I have acquired which were printed in the 1700's I look at the original owner(?) and wonder where this book went from then and there to here and now. But as I said I have not seen a book plate worth putting into a Folio book.

It is really annoying when I think I have found a deal on a long wanted Folio only to discover it has an ex-owner name or bookplate. I do not buy Folios with either and always send an e-mail to the seller to ensure neither is present.

Although I have no plans to sell any of my Folios I still cannot bear the thought of writing my name on, or attaching a bookplate to, the endpaper.

No I too cannot bear writing in my books, it would be torture. After hearing the opinions I will not be putting any bookplates as well since no one has given any ideas of appropriate types to put into the Folios. I suspect the only place which could do any justice to the books would be the Folio Society itself.

I like bookplates.

Today it was worth a 30% reduction on the Quest for Corvo, at a wecond-hand bookshop that had two copies in identical condition. I took the one with the bookplate and removed it when I left the shop. Unfortunately it left a little residue, but that looked better than the bookplate!

Az üzenetet módosította a szerzője, okt. 28, 2009, 2:21am.

I agree that many bookplates can be naff - I produced my own years ago, stuck it on many of my books, and now regret it. I no longer mark my books in any way. However, from time to time I have bought second-hand books with what I consider to be superior bookplates and am quite happy with them. For example, a little while back I bought a few with the bookplate of the Pennsylvania collectors, John Whiting Friel and Helen Otillie Friel. I was so impressed with this that I did a little research and found that it was designed by the great Rockwell Kent and that it came in four sizes. Its story is told in this little book:
http://www.bossbooks.com/friel.html

A bookplate seems to have two possible purposes - 1) to identify the owner for loaning out books, and 2) to identify the owner for posterity.

1 - loaned books often do not come back, but, on the other hand, they are more likely to come back (or make the borrower feel guilty, at least) if your name is on it.

2 - I too enjoy the peek into the past that comes with an old book with a bookplate or inscription.

If either or both of these reasons works for you, I reccommend that a bookplate be very small, be printed on pH neutral paper, and be applied with the a good water-based adhesive made for books restoration. This will allow later removal (by someone who knows what they're doing) with minimal residue or damage.

All a bookplate needs is a name (and, possibly, 'ex libris'), and the font size needn't be more than 10pt. So a 2" square is probably plenty large enough.

Do I use bookplates? Generally only on a book about to be loaned, and only if it's not likely to be particularly collectible in future.

Os.

I have several old books with several signatures in them , marks of previous owners over the last few hundred years - which I enjoy contemplating from time to time . But I have yet to bring myself to add my own mark/bookplate to anything other than work books which I scrawl ownership marks on with abandon .

Some folks collect the bookplates themselves attached or unattached .

I like the idea of book plates in older books, though sometimes I think they detract from the look of a book (if endpapers are decorated).

I love writing in books, as my original love of books was fostered by my father who gave me a book each Christmas, writing a message and signing on the endpaper. Since he died in January it always brings memories of him back to me when I come across one of those treasures, though I know it would hurt the book from a collectible standpoint.

I can not see defacing collectible books with book plates. Adhesives or markings of any kind lower the value. Particularly those with fine end papers.
I like finding old books with plates, signatures or bookmarks.
I cherish the signature in gift books however.
I can see collecting book plates by genre or style, but as documents unto themselves.

>14 said:
I can not see defacing collectible books with book plates.
-and-
I like finding old books with plates, signatures or bookmarks

Hmm... :-)

Os.

I was referring, of course, to my own collection.

I have some 19th century classical Greek books from a baronet's library that I bought at auction. All have his bookplates which comprise his achievement of arms and his name printed by intaglio press. Very impressive!

Az üzenetet módosította a szerzője, okt. 29, 2009, 4:48am.

Another interesting bookplate I have is in a copy of 'The Literature of National Music' by Carl Engel (1879). It's that of Herbert John Gladstone (1854-1930), youngest son of the great Victorian British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. He was Home Secretary 1905-10 and Governor-general of South Africa 1910-14. His bookplate is beautifully engraved and depicts, in the top half, his father working at his desk with the initials W.E.G. above, and in the lower half his arms. It can be seen on the following webpage, about two thirds of the way down :

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl...

Az üzenetet módosította a szerzője, okt. 29, 2009, 4:57pm.

I just put a small 'Ex-libris' label I've had printed in all my books because I lend a lot of my books to friends. I also love finding Book Plates and names in books, it makes me wonder who the original owner was. I don't buy books as a collector for value purposes, so don't feel it is 'defacing' the book.

I love finding book plates and signatures in books, it is an added bonus for me, like thinking about where the book came from, who loved it before it came to me. It also kindda reminds me of an old custom in Japan, where an individual would put his/her seal in a book, then when the book was passed on the next owner would put in their seal.

I also use an ex libris stamp in my books, it is about an inch by an inch...

I think that your stamp is impressive. This is something adding to the creation of the book. Where did you get yours? I know that I could not acquire something like this locally. It is certainly something that I would think about.
(edited for grammar)

Az üzenetet módosította a szerzője, nov. 4, 2009, 3:49am.

I have often toyed with the idea of making myself a beautiful and witty Ex Libris. As an artist and sometime engraver I could do it, but have never done so as I never almost never lend my Folio (and other fine books that would merit a bookplate) books to anyone.

I do enjoy looking at fine bookplates in old volumes but cannot bring myself to deface mine, even for the sake of posterity.

Strangely enough the only time in my life when I have marked my books was when I still lived with my parents, and even then only my paperbacks.

As the eldest of three siblings all going to university, my course reading was used for up to two years by other people - I had to have a way of recovering the remains if I so wished. My parents had an enormous apartment before they retired, so we tended to hang on, and bring our boy- or girlfriends to live with us. At one time we had seven separate libraries under one roof. I was spending six months of the year in Paris and I knew my books would gradually migrate to other hands. So I placed a small stamp of an angry-looking eye on the title page of my paperbacks to remind people to put them back where they found them (I had fewer hardcover books at the time and could identify them easily). This proved invaluable for proving ownership when I moved out and took my library with me.

21 - Barton,
My stamp came from here:

http://www.iprint.com/cgi-shl/bcardlayou...

You can add your own graphic, change fonts etc, very customizable and very inexpensive.

23- Thank you for the website.

Follow-up to 22:

By amazing coincidence I just received a book that I had loaned to someone more than a decade ago, and completely forgotten about. The borrower was rearranging her bookcase when she found my stamp staring back at her from the title page.

So - If you lend books to friends, book plates do help you to recover them, sooner or later.

It seems like this is a controversial topic.My passion is bookplates . If you want to see fine examples visit my bookplate blog.
Http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com

Lew Jaffe, Philadelphia, Pa.

Hate bookplates (unless very old!), but then I hardly ever lend my books unless battered reading copies - very, very few people have the remotest idea how to handle one, and it has been very rare for one to come back in the condition that I would expect it to be in having read it myself.

>27
Hate bookplates (unless very old!)

There will be no old bookplates unless there are, first, new bookplates.

A love/hate relationshisp, like post 14 -:
I can not see defacing collectible books with book plates.
-and-
I like finding old books with plates, signatures or bookmarks

:-)

Os.

Indeed, they look utterly fascinating and completely useless. I don't mind finding them in second hand books, particularly any in an art deco theme.