Association of
Collectors
M. Jancakova
Miscellaneous
Czech bookplates. Ex Libris Exlibris.
The modern Czech bookplate - Ex Libris -
making has started around the year 1868, with the
oldest bookplate for the Knight Vojtech Lanna by
Josef Manes.
Among
the Czech bookplate / Ex Libris / makers belonged
other great contemporary Czech artists such as Alfons
Mucha, Max Svabinsky,
Vojtech Preissig,
Mikolas Ales.
Bookplate collecting even knows the date of its
beginning. An article in the Moderni Revue magazin
of 1897 by a poet and the first collector of Ex
Libris, S. K. Neumann is considered to be the
first trace of the organized bookplate collecting.
Since then, the great interest in book markings
and collecting them, has continued. Bedrich Benes
Buchlovan informs us of as many as five thousand
Czech bookplates as early as in 1926.
With the time going, the bookplates / Ex Libris /
changed their characteristics and from the book
markings of an owner of a book, it had been
transformed into a collectors' object of interest.
Even contemporary artists have nourished the
tradition of the bookplate, for example E.
Haskova, M. Houra, J.
Liesler, J. Pilecek,
K. Benes and many others.
Association of Collectors and Friends of Bookplate
(Spolecnost sberatelu a pratel ex libris - SSPE)
founded in 1918 has contributed greatly to the
promotion of bookplates and of bookplate
collecting. The Association issues a magazine
quarterly called The Book Marking (Knizni Znacka),
that being a thirty-two pages brochure.
ing. Ivan Bohac
About
bookplate / Ex Libris /.
Bookplate - Since the fifteenth century,
distinguished artists and their patrons have given
serious attention to this art form. It represents
a miniature art developed to adorn books and a
convenient, individualized way for the book’s
owner to be identified. The bookplate or ex libris,
is a label placed on the inside of the front cover
of a book, bearing its owners name and a sign of
personal identification. The words ex libris on a
bookplate translate roughly from the Latin as
"from the books of" or "from the
library of."
Many techniques and mediums are used in creation
of exlibris, bookplates. Some include the woodcut,
engraving on metal, silkscreen, etching or pen and
ink. This, along with the fact that the work is
all done in small scale, plays an important part
in the execution of these works. Also, utilizing
the finest in papers, with hand printing in many
examples.
Bookplates
exlibris have been designed by artists and
engravers such as Albrecht Dürer, Thomas Bewick,
Paul Revere, Kate Greenaway, Aubrey Beardsley,
Marc Chagall, M.C. Escher, Rockwell Kent, Leonard
Baskin, Barry Moser, and others.
Ex libris enthusiasts have created an
international network for the purposes of
attaining designs by establishing societies in
forty-one countries. Through participation in
these societies worldwide friendships can grow.
Every two years an International Ex Libris
Congress is held in a different country inviting
members of the world bookplate societies to
attend. Under the auspices of the Federation
International des Societes d’Amateurs d’Ex
Libris (FISAE) one enjoys lectures, slide
presentations, exhibitions and sufficient time is
allowed for socializing and trading bookplates.
This provides endless opportunities for artists
and collectors to acquaint themselves with the
interest and enthusiasm for this art form in other
countries.
Text from: Ex Libris Chronicle, Director: James P.
Keenan
A Publication of: The American Society of
Bookplate Collectors and Designers.
Email ivanbohac@seznam.cz