bookplate

Mary Engelbreit bookplates

July 13, 2012

It all started with the bookplate shown here.

Mary Engelbreit bookplate

This bookplate, with artwork by renowned illustrator Mary Engelbreit, was printed by the Antioch Company in the 1990s. As the Antioch Company has now closed, this bookplate has been out of print for many years. Recently, we received an e-mail from a potential customer asking us to print these once again. I contacted Mary Engelbreit Studios and was pleased to learn that they often receive requests for bookplates with their artwork and had just received yet another. And, thus, a wonderful new relationship was formed.

Bookplate Ink will soon offer a gallery of designs by Mary Engelbreit. Some of these will be designs previously printed by the Antioch Company, but others will be new bookplates. We will offer these in both personalized and non-personalized formats. Spark a love of reading in a child you know with a bookplate specially printed with his or her name. Or order a set with no name added for a lower priced option. Many children and adults prefer to enter their own name and, thus, personalize their bookplates themselves. As we launch this new gallery of Mary Engelbreit artwork, we will also begin to offer all of our non-personalized bookplates in smaller quantities of 20 bookplates for a truly affordable gift. Order ahead for birthdays, Christmas stocking stuffers or a special gift for grandchildren!

Please check the Bookplate Ink website and this blog for the launching of this exciting new line of bookplates.

Too many choices?

June 14, 2012

I read a marketing book recently that discussed the idea that when it comes to making a purchasing decision, too many choices can be so overwhelming that a potential customer won’t make any choice.

I found a New York Times article that discusses the same phenomenon. In “Too Many Choices: A Problem That Can Paralyze,” Alina Tugend states, “Although it has long been the common wisdom in our country that there is no such thing as too many choices, as psychologists and economists study the issue, they are concluding that an overload of options may actually paralyze people or push them into decisions that are against their own best interest.”

Tugend goes on to discuss a study in California where customers were given samples of Wilkin & Sons jam. When given a greater assortment of jams to sample, more people were enticed to try some, but less actually made a purchase. Similarly, in choosing a 401(k) retirement plan, “studies have shown that if more fund options are offered, fewer people participate. And the highest participation rates are among those employees who are automatically enrolled in their company’s 401(k)’s unless they actively choose not to.”

What does this have to do with bookplates?? Bookplate Ink offers over 150 choices of bookplate designs, more than any other company we have found. We have ships, tomatoes, a rhinoceros, fairies, owls, flowers, musical instruments, a frog, boys, girls, maps, oh! and books. Perhaps the choices are overwhelming for our customers. This is a concern.

On the other hand, there is sometimes a design that doesn’t sell very well, but is perfect for one customer. Like the mustang horse, which was a wonderful bookplate for an elementary school whose mascot is a mustang. Or the now out-of-print Kermit the Frog bookplate for that Sesame Street lover. How about the biplane design for books donated from an aviation lover’s library?

Everytime I think we should take some designs off our website, one of these orders comes in. And the truth is, we have designs in our archives that aren’t even on the website. What’s your opinion? Is more better or is less easier? Should we streamline our offerings?

Bookplate for Malawian book

June 5, 2012

Who knew that printing bookplates would be such a great way to find out about interesting projects around the world?

We recently received a second order from Richard Hewitt, a customer from the United Kingdom who teaches at the Kamuzu Academy in Malawi. Mr. Hewitt’s first order was for bookplates for his own use. This second order is for bookplates that will be placed in presentation copies of a book by Fr. Claude Boucher about a traditional Malawian dance, Gulu Wamkulu. For a fascinating explanation of this dance performed by select Chewa men, see http://www.unesco.org/culture/intangible-heritage/22afr_uk.htm.

Fr. Boucher is a Canadian missionary and White Father, a popular name for Missionaries of Africa, a Catholic religious order founded by Cardinal Lavigerie in the nineteenth century for missionary activity in Africa and the Middle East. The name “White Fathers” comes from the white habits worn by the early missionaries. Nowadays, just about all new recruits to the White Fathers are Africans themselves. Boucher came to Malawi from Quebec in 1967 and founded the Kungoni Centre of Culture and Art in 1976.

According to the Kungoni Centre website, Fr. Goucher is an initiated member of the Nyau secret society and as such “has been privileged to see and document songs, dances and information that have not previously been revealed to any non-Malawian. This rich cultural heritage is in the process of being lost as Gule Wamkulu continues to be pressured by Western values and urbanization.” Boucher’s book, When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance: Gule Wamkulu: The Great Dance of the Chewa People of Malawi, is due to be published in August, and will be the first book-length study of this traditional Malawian dance. More information will be available at http://www.kasiyamaliro.org/.

The bookplate we will be printing for the book, shown here, is Claude Boucher’s own design. It offers a literal illustration of a Chewa proverb, appropriate to thank those who have helped to fund the book. Malawian villagers support the roof of a traditional village hut by carrying it on their heads. They are helped by ancestral spirits (supernaturally elongated, pale, androgynous), who collaborate with the living in their work. God is depicted in the form of a mask with tribal scarification. Two of his aspects are suggested: Mphambe, the God of lightning; and Chiuta, the God of the rainbow, who serves to unite heaven and earth.

We are pleased to be a small part of this wonderful project supporting an important part of the Malawian culture.

Altering designs

May 1, 2012

Bookplate Ink’s website encourages people to call or write if they don’t see exactly what they want in our pages of designs. When possible, we are happy to make changes to a design to fit the needs (or even whimsy!) of a customer.

Design N100

Author William Landay recently made such a request. Like many other authors, he wanted bookplates with room for him to autograph them for readers. Oftentimes, authors use one of our border designs, such as N100, shown here. This elegant yet bold border, printed on cream colored paper, leaves plenty of room for a comment and signature. We have a non-personalized version of this design, but can also print an author’s name, the title of their book, or even include a logo with our personalized version.

Modified A124 design

But Landay requested changes to our design A124 to fit his needs. A124 is one of our designs with artwork by renowned artist Rockwell Kent, originally printed in the 1950s by the Antioch Bookplate Company. After many requests, we brought this bookplate back into print several years ago. For Landay, we made the artwork much smaller so that he would have room to sign his name and make comments. He requested “With compliments of the author” and his name be printed on the plate.

Another design that has been altered for customers is B217. Introduced by Antioch Bookplate Company in the 1960s, this design was created by Tom Eaglin, using the inspirational quote attributed to Quaker leader William Penn. We have printed this design without the “ex libris” text, which is Latin for “from the library of,” and without any text at all. With text that is vastly different from the original Penn quote, author Jeaniene Frost has used this design to create a bookplate that suits her style and books.

Jeaniene Frost version of B217

Design B217

A Cornucopia of Links

November 16, 2011

Through Google Analytics, I can see which websites “referred” people to bookplateink.com. Or, in other words, it shows which websites include a link that someone clicked to access our site. Yesterday, I decided to look at as many of these sites as I could. What an interesting and wonderful collection of websites! Here is a short description of several of them:

• Did you know there is a website devoted to getting your Ph.D. in American History online? They have a great page of “100 Tips and Tools for Managing Your Personal Library,” with helpful ideas for any book lover of any genre. And tip #100 is to check out Bookplate Ink for bookplates!

• Author Nina Sankovitch offers a signed bookplate on her site, readallday.org. Sankovitch spent one year reading one book a day and writing about each book on her site. She also wrote a memoir, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, focusing on her life of reading. Her website is chock full of information about reading.

• On his blog, Steven Gomez, whose pen name is C.S. Gomez, posted an entry about cultivating a personal library. Step number ten is: “Bookplates are essential.”

• The site Bibliobabe.com is full of book recommendations, encouragement for teen readers, and other information. As stated on the site, “Bibliobabe is a blog dedicated to all things reading: book news, awards updates, free book giveaways, teen links and books news, reviews and book journal comments.”

• Booksilly is a great website to visit during the holiday season. As stated on the site, “It’s a world of gifts and products for the avid reader, bibliophile, librarian, teacher, bookaholic and anyone else just silly about books!!!” Of course, I was happy to see bookplates right near the top of their offerings.

• One of the more interesting and yet obscure sites I found is http://exlibris.lap.hu/. The site is in Hungarian, but when translated, it seems to be comprised of lists of artists, Facebook pages, and bookplate suppliers, among other things. Included in the listing is Bookplate Ink.

• Lew Jaffe is a longtime collector of bookplates. On his blog, which is updated every Sunday, he shares information about his purchases, bookplate artists, and bookplate history.

• The Bookplate Society, based in the United Kingdom, is “an international society of collectors, bibliophiles, artists and others dedicated to promoting bookplate study. Their “purpose is to encourage the production, use, collecting, and study of bookplates.” Their resource page has many helpful links.

• My hometown and home of the bookplate business, Yellow Springs, Ohio, is a wonderful village with an interesting history that is celebrated by its residents. The Yellow Springs Historical Society is instrumental in keeping this history alive.

• Evelia, whose artwork can be seen in products at Target, Pier 1, and other major companies, has a gallery of colorful and artistic bookplates at Bookplateink.com. Her entire product line can be seen on her website.

• Likewise, artist Amy McGregor-Radin’s bold and unique woodcut art is featured in our gallery and more is shown on her site.