Bookplate Ink

Bookplates, or ex libris, are decorative labels, or stickers, to identify book ownership and for authors to sign.

Antioch

Some weeks are more rewarding than others. This past weekend, I attended a party for a 90-year-old former neighbor and had an unexpected experience.

As many of you already know, Bookplate Ink primarily prints bookplate designs from the Antioch Bookplate Company, founded in 1926 by Ernest Morgan and Walter Kahoe while they were students at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The company later became the Antioch Company as they expanded their offerings to calendars, journals, etc.

Bookplate Ink, while still a part of the Yellow Springs News, our local newspaper, worked alongside the Antioch Company for many years, personalizing their bookplates. When the Antioch Company stopped printing bookplates and later, closed, Bookplate Ink, now its own company, acquired most of their designs so they would still be available to customers.

At the party I attended, I met a woman from Yellow Springs named Jan. As we chatted, I told her about my business, Bookplate Ink, and she responded that she worked for the Antioch Bookplate Company years ago. I asked what she did there, to which she replied — sheepishly — that she used to paste bookplates into their catalogs. I told her that my business still has some of these catalogs and I’d love to show them to her. Later, I slipped away from the party and brought back two of the catalogs, both from the 1950s.

This was a magical moment. I was taken aback by how surprised and happy Jan was to see these catalogs. She was looking through them and mentioned that she still remembers the bookplates her mother had. When I asked which design it was, she said it had a tree. I pointed out the design shown on the right page in the photo above, which she recognized it as her mother’s bookplates. Her eyes teared up and she paused while she remembered her mom and the significance of her bookplates.

That bookplate uses artwork created by Robert Whitmore, a Yellow Springs artist who created many wonderful bookplate designs for Antioch Bookplate Company in the early days. We are still printing a version of the bookplate shown here, design B252, one of our most popular. Robert Whitmore’s artwork is special to me as I’m friends with his son, Jon Whitmore, who still lives in Yellow Springs on what had been his dad’s property. And I love having a small part in the history of bookplates and their meaning in people’s lives. Also amazing and fun for me, personally, is recognizing some of the names printed on the bookplates in these catalogs, as many of the descendants still live in our small village.

Two days later, Bookplate Ink received a very special testimonial from a longtime customer, George Pilcher. George has ordered several bookplate designs over the years, beginning in 2012. This is what he wrote after receiving his latest order:
I have used Antioch Bookplates (now printed by Bookplate Ink) for over 65 years, and have received compliments from friends and fellow readers for all of those years. (I have many different styles, but my favorite has always been B253 – BOOKS BY OPEN WINDOW WITH EX LIBRIS TEXT), which I first began using in the mid-1950s.) My personal library (which has spilled, over the years, from the actual library room to the sitting room, the living room, the family room, and the loft, with other volumes scattered among the various bedrooms) comprises several thousand volumes, and they are all “plated by Antioch.” The owners of Bookplate Ink did readers everywhere a great service when they took over the Antioch catalogue, and their products are, if anything, even finer and higher-quality than those from the old Antioch Press, founded in 1926. It is absolutely wonderful that the owners of Bookplate Ink have chosen to make and sell products of the highest quality at an affordable price. In an age of “throwaway,” it is great to know that these splendid bookplates will be in my equally splendid book collection for as long as the books last. My hope is that many future generations will read books from my collection, and will be pleased to see the artistic statement of Antioch and the commitment to excellent workmanship of Bookplate Ink, when they open each volume.

Needless to say, this message made my day. Not only was George very complimentary to Bookplate Ink, but he so aptly describes his love of books and the significance of bookplates. George has ordered several designs, including the one designed for chemists by Dutch woodcut artist, Thijs Mauve chemist, M604, shown at the right. George requested this printed in brown ink. But he says his favorite is still B253, shown above.

https://bookplateink.com/19344-2/

How does a year go by?

It’s troubling to see that I haven’t updated this bookplate blog in a year, but some exciting things have happened during that time.

After years of wanting to have a video about bookplates, we finally have one! The video shows many examples of both personalized and non-personalized bookplates and how to apply them in your books. It also shows examples of bookplates for children and bookplates for authors, who often use them to promote their books. If you haven’t already watched it on our home page, www. bookplateink.com, check it out on YouTube! We’d love you to share the link with your friends, by email, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever.

We’re also excited to have our bookplates now for sale at the Library of Congress gift shop and at their online store. There is a very nicely done Holiday Catalog on the site with the bookplates shown there also. There are some bookplates sold on their site that are not available from us as a non-personalized plate yet. Look for more on our site in the future!

 

 

 

Many Ways to Use Bookplates

The traditional use of bookplates, begun in the 15th century, is to identify the owner of a book. Bookplates, also known as ex libris, are usually decorative, with artwork that is meaningful to the book owner. Often they show the family coat of arms or some particular area of interest to the owner. Many well-known figures have used bookplates and many well-known artists have created them over the years, but they are available for anyone to use.

The Antioch Bookplate Company, in its early days, promoted the use of bookplates for ordinary folk, as people could order one of its many designs — often called universal designs — that are available to the public. No need to hire an artist to create a design specifically for you, although that is always an option. Many well-known artists, such as Lynd Ward, Rockwell Kent, and Robert Whitmore, created artwork for Antioch bookplates.

The Antioch Company closed several years ago, but Bookplate Ink continues to print their popular designs, both personalized and non-personalized. Many of our customers are individuals ordering for their home libraries, but it is noteworthy how many interesting uses people have for bookplates.

Memorial Bookplates: Many bookplates are placed in books being donated to a library or school in memory of someone, and are often books from their own collection. Sometimes, however, a collection of new books is donated in memory of a loved one, co-worker or teacher. One of our customers donates books to a nearby nature center in memory of her dear daughter, who died much too young. Another customer has requested bookplates in memory of her book club members. And many bookplates are in books given in memory of a favorite teacher or librarian.

University Libraries: Many of the bookplates we print are shipped to universities, either for their main library or a departmental library. Some of these are to designate a particular collection, or ownership by a university department. Some bookplates are sold at college bookstores, with the logo for the school.

Kickstarter Campaigns: Who said bookplates aren’t part of the modern world? Bookplate Ink has printed many bookplates to be given as a reward for donating to a Kickstarter or other online campaign. These bookplates are usually signed by the author/and or illustrator who is the recipient of the funding. Many of these have been for comics and graphic novels.

Authors: Bookplates provide a convenient way for authors to reach out to fans with an autograph, when shipping a book or a signing in person aren’t possible. Author Bernard Cornwell has been using bookplates in this way for years. He has a significant fan base in Brazil and recently had his usual bookplate printed in Portuguese. Maggie Stiefvater sends bookplates with her own beautiful artwork, as shown below, to fans in the United Kingdom when she can’t go there on tour.

Gifts: Of course, one of the best uses for bookplates is as a present to your favorite reader. Grandparents and parents often order non-personalized bookplates as a stuffing stuffer at Christmas. Bookplates personalized with a name make a special gift for the holidays or a birthday. Many people are thrilled to find the same design they used as a child still available for them to give to their own children.

Sometimes You Just Have to Bite the Bullet

Over the years, we’ve received many compliments on our website, bookplateink.com. Customers have liked the color scheme, layout, and large selection of designs. However, the website was badly in need of updating, as it was in an outdated platform and not mobile-friendly. We are very pleased to announce that the site is now new and updated, though we’ve kept the same look as much as possible. The process was long and laborious, but rewarding.

More and more people are looking at websites on their tablets and smart phones, so bookplateink.com is now mobile friendly. This also helps us to be found in Google searches. You can feel comfortable knowing that your ordering will be simple and secure whether it’s from your computer, tablet or phone.

The shipping section of our website was no longer accurate and didn’t give our customers any choices. Now, you can choose from a variety of U.S. mail or UPS shipping options. Please keep in mind that US priority mail is often faster than UPS ground, but UPS has better tracking.

Our testimonial page has been updated to include images of the bookplates ordered by the customer offering the testimonial. Customers can also submit their own testimonial online, from a form provided on the right-hand side of the page. Look at the page to see a few of the wide varieties of bookplates our customers have ordered.

The designs on our new site are the same, but we are now showing the black ink designs with a cream colored background, to better represent their look when printed on cream colored paper.

We have always printed bookplates with custom artwork, but now that artwork can be uploaded right on the site, while you place your order.

We hope that these and other changes will help you to enjoy browsing our bookplate selection. Remember, bookplates are a unique gift for your favorite teachers, friends and relatives. We also provide bookplates for memorial or honorary book donations, for hymnals and prayer books in churches, synagogues, mosques, and retreat facilities, and for libraries of all sizes.  Don’t forget to order some for your own books!

Exquisite Venitian Library

20160825_160649This past August, my husband and I had the good fortune to travel to Europe.  We spent a week in Lucerne, Switzerland, attending spectaular concerts at the renowned Lucerne Music Festival and hiking in the Alps with friends. After traveling by train to Italy, we visited Lucca, Florence and Cinque Terra, walking for miles, and loving the history and beauty of the area.

From there, we took the train to Venice, where we took in many of the wonderful museums and explored the city. One of the museums we visited was the Museo Correr in Venice, Italy. The Correr sits directly across Piazza San Marco from Basilica San Marco, and is steps away from the Grand Canal. There is an awe-inspiring amount of history and culture in just this one small area but I am going to focus on one exhibit in the Correr.

20160825_160013Within the museum is the Pisani Library, a room filled with beautiful walnut bookcases that came from the Pisani family palace at San Vidal. The Pisanis, an aristocratic family in Venice from the 12th to 18th centuries, were an important influence on the culture and politics of the time. According to the Museo Correr, they were “the first to set up what might be called a library-museum, in an attempt to endow the city’s publishing industry with its own aura of grandeur and munificent service to the State.”

The bookcases today are filled with “rare manuscripts and printed works, dating from the early Sixteenth Century to the end of the 20160825_155946Eighteenth.” Surrounding the shelves are display cases with beautiful books from the 1500-1600s.

The chandelier hanging above was made from Murano glass in the 1700s. Murano is a series of small islands just outside of Venice and has been home to glass-making since 1291, when the glassmakers of Venice were forced to move there due to20160825_155711 fear of fire within the city and its wood buildings.

It was fascinating and awe-inspiring to view the intricate artwork in books from hundreds of years ago. I’m grateful that people such as the Pisani family valued their libraries and preserved the world’s heritage through books. During this “digital age,” let’s not forget the importance and endurance of the printed page.

Bookplates for authors 101

Although bookplates have traditionally been used to identify one’s books in a personal library, many authors order bookplates from Bookplate Ink to use for book signings and as a promotional tool and thank you gift to their readers, so I thought it might be helpful to new authors (and seasoned authors!) to show some possibilities.

 

 

One popular option is to have bookplates printed with custom artwork from your book(s). Some authors have bookplates with the artwork from the jacket cover of the book at the top of the bookplate or as the background for the entire bookplate. Sometimes artwork related to one element or character of the book is used, along with the author’s name and/or website.

 

New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater has used more than one design for her young adult Raven Cycle series. Maggie posts photos and offers signed bookplates through her website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Fountain Bookstore. We have seen more than one tweet with a photo from an excited reader who just bought one of her books and received a signed bookplate. Shown here is one of the bookplates Stiefvater created for her Raven Cycle series.

 

Brenna Yovanoff is another young adult fiction writerScreen Shot 2016-05-03 at 1.06.59 PM
who recently ordered bookplates for her new book, Places No One Knows, and posted a photo on Instagram. The book will be released later this month, but those who pre-order through the Tattered Cover Book Store will receive a free signed bookplate. Many authors use a signed bookplate as an incentive for pre-orders.

 

 

Bookplate Ink has also printed bookplates for
New York Times bestseller Garth Stein. His latest bookplate is a good example of a design useful for an author who wants a bookplate that encompasses all of his or her published books. As you can see, the jacket covers of his books are shown at the top along with his photo, while his website address is at the bottom of the bookplate.

 

 

If you’re looking for a simpler and more affordable option, another possibility is one of our non-personalized border designs. These bookplates are printed on a non-glossy, cream colored paper and look very classy. At 3×4 inches, they have plenty of room for your signature and a short message. As they’re pre-printed and we keep them in stock, they ship quickly and are less expensive than custom bookplates. Shown here is one of our most popular border designs, N100. It is available as both a non-personalized bookplate or a custom printed bookplate with the text of your choice.

 

For a more personalized look, many authors order one of our many border designs and have the bookplates custom printed with their name, website address and/or book title. We can also add artwork or a logo to any of our border designs.

 

There are many possibilities regarding styles and sizes of bookplates. If you have any questions, feel free to call 866-483-3830 or e-mail info@bookplateink.com.