bookplates

Looking ahead to the Boston book fairs this weekend, we’d like to share a short list of items that show the breadth of material on offer at the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair.  

In the booth of Justin Croft Antiquarian Books, for example, you may encounter the rare first

It’s September, that time of year that tends to bring us all back to the books, so to speak. The ‘books about books’ market is no different, but there seems to be a more-than-usual amount to share with you—a baker’s dozen in all, unevenly split with eight non-fiction titles, three fiction, and one adorable gift book. Let’s dive in! (Part II will appear on Thursday.)

First up is

A return to action in the auction rooms this week, with two sales on Thursday, January 10:
  

The art of the bookplate is alive and well among Grolier Club members—just as it has been for 130 years.

The functional purpose of the bookplate is simple: collectors paste the small pieces of paper or leather into their volumes to identify ownership and establish a trail of provenance. Yet for centuries, bookplates have also served as visual

Rhode Island Center for the Book’s 2014 Art of the Book Program Presents Mine!: Ownership Marks from Curses to Book Plates 

This year the R.I. Center for the Book's Art of the Book Program will celebrate the book as a personal possession. Why do owners mark books? What is the history of book plates?

Prompted by a question raised at Rare Book School a couple of weeks ago, I blogged about what might be the first American bookplate. Since then, some further ideas and opinions give reason for reconsideration.

Lew Jaffe, who runs

This week I am at the University of Virginia's Rare Book School taking a week-long course called Provenance: Tracing Owners and Collections, taught by David Pearson. Topics include "inscriptions, paleography, bookplates, heraldry, bindings as provenance evidence, sale catalogues, tracing owners, and the recording of provenance

Every year FB&C publishes a holiday gift guide in its fall issue brimming with interesting book-related art, decor, and jewelry. There is always at least one book on the list, and this year, there were five! But that doesn't cover the great selection of bookish gift books out there this season (which means there are

A fun Friday read about historian James Goode's bookplate collection, now on exhibit at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library and the Rare Book School in Alderman Library through July 29.

From the article in the University of Virginia Magazine: