Tuesday, July 1, 2008

A plate for every occasion...

Those of you who are into book plates need to have a look at the blog of Art History and Theory at Otago. There have been a couple of recent posts of serendipitous discoveries of bookplates while trolling through old books, including one for The Office of the Inspector General of Insane.

I have a bit of a thing for stationery, and have a couple of different personalised stationery sets. My ultimate indulgence would be to have my own special set of book plates made. Or may be two sets - the Crime Writer set with suitably deadly, yet stylish ornamentation. I'd also need an everyday set, so to speak, and, come to think of it, a separate bookplate for all my recipe books. I also have quite a collection of New Zealand Natural History books, so would need a little something with appropriate flora and fauna, Then there's the art books...

8 comments:

Rachael King said...

I love book plates but I have too many books. It would take years to plate them all up. I had a stamp made but even that seemed like a bit of a chore! My grandparents had the most beautiful book plates, designed by Mervyn Taylor, who was a friend of theirs. It's a woodcut of a fantail, wit their names on it.

Vanda Symon said...

I have a thing about woodcuts, there's something so special about their slight coarseness, so that would be the ultimate for me.

The thought of plating up your existing collection is a bit daunting, but think of the books you'd re-discover along the way.

I'd need to order a hell of a large initial print run!

Erin said...

What you have a love of stationery? Who knew!!!!!

Lew Jaffe said...

Dear Vanda,
I referenced you in this week's posting on my bookplate blog
Http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com
Lew Jaffe, Philadelphia, Pa.

Benjamin L Clark said...

Oh, yes. I've done the same. My Modern Library series collection would need one plate, my Books About Books another, my letterpress instruction manuals, the museum manuals (for work), American West another, Poetry... I've actually almost decided to do a simple typographical label with the year on it, so I know when I acquired each book. Only for new stuff, until I die.

Vanda Symon said...

You could be completely indulgent and order a new series of bookplates each year!

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