Special Collections Images

Whatever your own specialization, this website is a place to share our love of ex libris through images and historical articles. It has also been designed to help you track down items available online for your own collection, such as heraldic ex libris with personalized coats-of-arms, ex libris designed by artists and typographers, or bookplates of famous writers, collectors and even celebrities.

Founded in 1972, The Bookplate Society is the direct descendant of the world's first such organisation, the Ex Libris Society, 1891-1908, and its creation and successor, the Bookplate Exchange Club. So in 2012 we celebrated the Society's 40th anniversary. Our purpose is to encourage the production, use, collecting, and study of bookplates. We achieve this through our publications, lectures, visits to collections, members' auctions, social meetings, and exhibitions.

A bookplate, also known as ex-librīs [Latin, "from the books of..."], is usually a small print or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the inside front cover, to indicate its owner. Simple typographical bookplates are termed "booklabels".