Bookplate Ink

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

Paper

A loving project

More than a year and a half ago — which now seems in the distant past — we had an order requested for bookplates for a wonderful and loving project: a book area for children at the Child Study of Center of Yale School of Medicine, in honor of the beloved Director of Finance and Administration there, Karen Muth, who was losing her long battle with cancer. Karen was able to help choose the design she wanted before she passed. As her friend Jean Herzog, who placed the order, wrote, “books will be chosen by the faculty and staff for children and families who are dealing with childhood cancer. Karen dealt with her own cancer for more than eight years and was very touched that her friends and family chose to remember her this way.”

Jean wrote to me recently to let me know that Karen’s Korner was finally opened, on May 6, 2022, after some delays due to the pandemic. This wonderful book haven includes rocking chairs and a bookshelf with a variety of children’s books, each with a bookplate dedicated to Karen Muth. You can read more about it at their website.

I was touched that Jean shared this with me. These are the bookplate orders that give so much meaning to what we do. Bookplates in memory of a loved one are treasured tributes.

Authors dealing with the coronavirus

The COVID-19 pandemic has required everyone, including businesses, to adapt and innovate. How can you serve your customers when you can’t be near them? How do you promote your business? And if you’re an artist or writer, how do you still connect with your audience?

Authors have had to cancel book tours and signings since the pandemic occurred. And, of course, libraries and bookstores are closed, so books are being purchased online.

For years, however, authors and publishers have been using bookplates to send to readers, either as a promotional item from their website, or to give to people in person. What could be easier than signing bookplates in advance and having them ready at book signings?

One of our longtime customers is an author and speaker. Jill Tietjen, who co-authored Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America, used bookplates for years for speaking engagements throughout the country. She signed the bookplates in advance and added a personal note when her book was purchased.
 
 
While in-person signings have now been canceled, more and more authors and publishers are using bookplates to continue to stay in touch with their readers. We have had several orders from loyal customer W.W. Norton & Company — a well-known independent and employee-owned publishing house — for their various authors. W.W. Norton has two of its own designs that Bookplate Ink prints. During this time of working from home we are of course, able to ship directly to the authors.
 
 
 
 
 
New York Times Bestselling author and former U.S. Navy Seal Jack Carr, who wrote Savage Son, True Believer and The Terminal List, recently re-ordered bookplates for True Believer. He sells the signed bookplates on his website at jackcarrusa.com and sends 100% of the profits to veteran focused foundations. This is a wonderful idea to connect with readers while supporting a great cause! He even has on his website these photos of a signed bookplate in his book and himself signing the plates.
 
 
Grove Atlantic, another well-known independent literary publisher, ordered some of our non-personalized border designs when they needed bookplates quickly for promotions for their authors. The one shown here, design N100, can be ordered both personalized and non-personalized. This art deco design is one of our most popular border designs. We have several more border designs suitable for signings by authors and speakers at bookplateink.com.
 
If you are an author — whether new or established — or a publishing company, we can help you! Feel free to call at 937-319-0067 or toll-free, 866-483-3830; or email info@bookplateink.com with questions or comments.

World Book Day and COVID-19

I’ll be honest. I really don’t like reading ebooks. And I find if difficult to concentrate listening to audiobooks, even though I love listening to podcasts. I read hard copy books, ones I can hold in my hands and take to the beach (back in the pre-COVID-19 days). I like books whose covers I can look at and whose pages I can flip through.

But as the owner of Bookplate Ink, audiobooks and ebooks are also a little scary and disappointing to me. And with the coronavirus pandemic, I have had some concern that people will start reading more ebooks. After all, libraries and many local bookshops are closed.

But there’s hope! Today is World Book Day, officially UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. As Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO said, “Books have the unique ability both to entertain and to teach. They are at once a means of exploring realms beyond our personal experience through exposure to different authors, universes and cultures, and a means of accessing the deepest recesses of our inner selves.” What better day to think about and act on that than today? If you’re like me, the state of the world today makes it all the more tempting and important to be able to escape into a good book.

Here at Bookplate Ink, we encourage people to celebrate World Book Day, any day really, by ordering hard copy books from an independent bookstore. Although bookstores are closed during this pandemic, many are still shipping books to customers. And by ordering from an independent store instead of Amazon, you will be supporting a small business that mostly likely really needs your help right now. You can find independent bookstores in your area at www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder, part of the website for the IndieBound, a resource for Independent local bookstores. If you can’t find a local bookstore that it shipping books, try Powell’s in Portland, Oregon, www.powells.com/, the world’s largest independent bookstore.

Here in Ohio, it is a rainy day today. Perfect for curling up with a good book!

Basel Paper Mill

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Basel, Switzerland. Basel is a beautiful city on the banks of the Rhine, with houses and buildings dating back to the 1600s. There are many museums there, including art museums, a toy museum, a caricature and cartoon museum, and a music museum.
 
 
My husband and I were visiting friends, but I couldn’t resist going to the Basel Papermill. This wonderful mill/museum produces and sells paper and paper products and print services, while operating as a museum.
 
 
On the first floor, visitors are able to not only view paper being made, but try their hand at it also. The photo on the left shows a mixture of pulp and water being mashed together while the one on the right shows the back end of the machinery.
 
 
Watch and listen to the video below, showing the entire machinery mashing the pulp to prepare to make the paper. I love the sound!


 
 
Upstairs, there is a full letterpress print shop, including the original Heidelberg press shown here. And, of course, it was thrilling to find bookplates amongst the print samples in the shop, The bookplate shown below is one I’d seen online.

 
 
This is only a snippet of the many interesting experiences and information in the paper mill/museum. If you are ever in Basel, don’t miss it!