This week saw another long thought-of project finally enacted ; making myself a bookplate, also known as an ex libris. Bookplates are small printed labels used to claim ownership of ones books. They have a long history and have been made by commercial publishing houses and prominent artists alike. I started this small engraving this week during a class I was teaching at Megalo Print Studio. It wasn’t initially planned as an ex libris, but for somewhat unknown reasons, I left a dark corner. After proofing, I didn’t like the dark corner and was about to extend the horizontal lines and realised this could be the perfect opportunity to turn it into a bookplate. I was still a little concerned that black corner was a little clunky. After printing a whole bunch of them on Megalo’s lovely Albion Press, I did then extend the lines, and print a bunch of those as well.
While creating and printing the bookplates was fun, the real satisfaction was pasting them into my books today – at least those that I have with me at the moment, which are mostly teaching resources and a few books I’ve been reading recently. One such book to receive its new bookplate today was Jenny Uglow’s biography of Thomas Bewick – himself a prolific creator of bookplates. It’s nice to feel I am continuing a tradition that is a little on the wane.
Tags: art, autumn, ex libris, leaves, printmaking, prints, Thomas Bewick, wood engraving
May 4, 2012 at 10:41 am
I like your activity, I’ve made a blog on this subject en mentioned also your creation. You can see it on:http://lapagedagnes.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/boeken-ex-libris/
May 5, 2012 at 1:21 am
Hi Agness, thanks for featuring my image on your fab blog.