Bookplates: Explanation and Inspiration

A bookplate is a label attached to the inside cover of a book, usually with the owner's name or initials, sometimes following the Latin phrase “ex libris” which translates to “from the books of.” Each label is unique to its owner, a way of announcing to the world, "This is mine!" A label that we would recognize as a modern bookplate has origins in late 15th century Germany. One of the first examples is this small hand-colored woodcut print depicting an angel holding a shield, which appears in books from the library of scholar and priest Hilprand Brandenburg (1442-1514). By the 16th century, bookplates were being used in libraries all over Europe, with some of the continent's most prominent artists and printmakers commissioned to produce them. 

The bookplate serves a practical purpose for those individuals or institutions lending titles or making their library available for public use, and need not be complex. In their most basic form, a bookplate is a typographical, or text-only declaration of ownership, perhaps just a name or initials. Children of the 80s and 90s often got their first introduction to this style by carefully writing their names on the "This book belongs to" pages popular in the Little Golden Books series. 

Armorial bookplates, particularly useful for titles passed down through generations, were extremely popular beginning in the 17th century. A family crest, motto, seal, or coat of arms was a practical way to indicate ownership that naturally carried over to the family library. 

By the 18th century, bookplate themes were limited only by the owner’s imagination and taste, giving us a glimpse into their artistic and literary preferences, values, and personality. Motifs rose and fell in popularity, influenced by country of origin, political movements, trends in art, ideas about education, and countless other factors, large and small. A sample of bookplates created in the last 200 years will include themes of astronomy, mythology, animals, interior scenes, landscapes, allegories, and the ever-popular “pile of books.”

Enthusiasm for bookplates grew, and by the 1880s individuals and clubs were building collections of bookplates sourced from all over the world. At the Center for Brooklyn History, we’re lucky to hold one of those collections, the Emma Toedteberg bookplate collection, which includes an estimated 7,000 items dating back to the early 18th century. Emma worked as a librarian for the Long Island Historical Society from 1889-1936 and inherited the collection from her father, Augustus Toedteberg.

Additional items were added to the collection by later librarians, including Harriet Styker-Rodda. Bookplates in the collection are British and American, dating from 1701-1982. Several Brooklynites are represented including Henry Ward Beecher, Bishop Cadman, and Emma Toedteberg herself.

The bookplate-collecting community is thriving, and bookplate collections can be found in institutional and personal collections all over the world. However, the practice of creating a bookplate for the home library has fallen out of fashion. We hope that this blog post will inspire bibliophiles everywhere to design or commission a plate for their books and keep this wonderful tradition going! 

“A book without a plate is, to me, like a child waiting to be adopted. Any man really loving a book wants to tighten his bonds with it, honor it and treat it with respect. He wants to show that he has had it as a friend, and to make it that much different from the many other copies of the same book.”

-Mark S. Severn, Making a Bookplate