Friday, October 17, 2008

Serving Up Bookplates

Today's Wonder of the World is...Bookplates!

Flickr photo by Sprouthead
Are you a bookplate lover? Or does the word bookplate make you think of the last time you caught dinner crumbs with the pages of your favorite book as you finished just one more chapter?

In case you're new to the world of bookplates, allow me to play Marian the Librarian for a moment and give you a definition. Bookplates are simply small labels that you adhere to the inside front cover of a book. There are two types, children.

Type One: For Ownership.
Are you tired of lending out a favorite novel to a no good moocher friend, who promptly drops it in the bathtub, runs it through the dryer, and then forgets who lent her the book in the first place? Put a bookplate in the front with your name in permanent marker! Problem solved! At least part of it. (You might want to get some more friends!)

Type Two: For the Author's Signature.
You'd like to give your friend Mr. Peabody a book for Christmas by his favorite Russian author, Boris Badenov, but you want to make it extra special so that he'll introduce you to his short, smart looking boy Sherman, whom you've had a crush on since way back. You're certain Mr. Peabody would LOVE a signed copy, But Boris Badenov lives all the way in Russia, and you're not even chummy with any Alaskans. What to do?
Visit Mr. Badenov's website and discover that Boris gives away signed bookplates for free!
Send him a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and he'll dedicate it to Mr. Peabody, sign it, and send it back to you! Great, right?

What a coincidence!
Guess what I have, just for your gift giving pleasure?
Free bookplates!


Random House gave me permission to use Betsy Everitt's pretty artwork from my book cover, and I love the way they turned out!
If you're giving French By Heart as a birthday or holiday gift, or have one yourself and just want to show people how messy my handwriting is, read my sidebar for directions. I'd love to send one to you!

But enough about me and my bookplate.
Allow me to show you some others.
You can find plenty of cool ones on Etsy. My favorite shopping place!
Let's start with this post's opener, from the Etsy shop Sprouthead.

Flickr photo by Sprouthead
By the way, ex libris means from the library of.

I also love the ones at Taylored Arts. Like this one.

Photo from TayloredArts

And for the kiddies, check out this one from Oiseaux.

Photo by Oiseaux
Lucky Gabriel!

And please, hop over HERE to see the bookplates a creative girl named Meeralee designed for her friends. They're hilarious!

If you'd like to see other author bookplates, drop by this site, and follow the links.

Speaking of dropping by, what are you doing tomorrow?
Oh come on. Who needs laundry and groceries anyway?
Let's Party!

I'm joining in Vanessa Valencia's Halloween Party Conga Line, and I'd love for you to drop by! There will be free food and prizes and plenty of fun sites to visit!

Have a wonder-full Friday, y'all! And a great weekend!
Love, Becky
PS. To start your weekend off right, watch Marian the Librarian in this favorite scene of mine from The Music Man. There are bound to be some bookplates in that library--and if there aren't, who cares?! It'll make you want to dance!

18 comments:

Unknown said...

How fabulous! I just learned something new. Thanks for the "edoo-mah-kay-shun"! Sign me up! I want to be first in line for that fabulous "French By Heart" bookplate! :)

LW said...

I adore bookplates….
One of the things that I look for in old books are bookplates.
I have never ever found one, just hand penned names or a little
inscription…

Someone always gets an author signed book for Christmas from me,
And you just put your book on my list of gifts to give.
Thank you for this offer and I think that your bookplates came out fantastic.

Now to make my list of who gets your book..

Louise

lotusgirl said...

Bookplates are great. Yours turned out really cool! I love the ones by Meeralee. How funny!

Rosemary said...

Hi Rebecca,
I love bookplates. What a great idea for your book. I will be emailing you for that.
Have a great weekend!
Rosemary

Suzie said...

I love the music man

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful write up. Thanks for including me!

Taylored Arts

Susan said...

Ohh, I could never use a bookplate. I might include one with a book, but I can't mar a book in any way. That is why I joined the Altered Book group, to overcome my fear of messing up a book. I still have a ways to go, though. I know I'm weired about things like that. I'll get there some day. Take care and hugs.

CC said...

Those are cool!

Adrienne said...

How pretty! I've never used these. I just love the cover art on your book, BTW. It caught my attention right away.

Jamie @ Bungalow Bee said...

Wow, your book plate is gorgeous - I love it!!!

Angela K. Nickerson said...

Ok. Where did you have your bookplates made? That is a FABULOUS idea! Clearly, I will just have to steal it... as I do all of your ideas. Bravo, chica!

Seriously, where did you have them made??

Angela K. Nickerson said...

,

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Hey y'all.
Angela, I did them myself. I get stubborn about stuff like that and spend way too much time on it, when someone else could do them much faster, but I'm too cheap to hire it out.
It's not too hard. First I figured out how big I wanted each one to be (I wanted to print 8 per page of sticker paper to hold down the expense,) then I worked on the design. I cropped the illustration from my book cover (after getting permission from my publisher,) layered it on top of a green rectangle along with a white square for signing, and added the cherries and my name from my cover. And then I got my smarty husband to figure out how to get the computer to print the 8 at a time, while I went to Staples and found sticker paper.

You are more than welcome to use the idea. No need to reinvent the wheel!

Anonymous said...

What a great gift idea! I do love that musical so very much. Thanks

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the art of the old movie musicals;-)

Susan Tuttle said...

Gorgeous bookplates! You always teach me something whenever I visit.

Susan
xo

Linda Summerfield said...

We use to look through every book in my Grandparent's library to find the fanciest bookplates. I will have to get your special bookplates, I plan on giving my three siblings your book! Has anything changed in France since we lived there 30 years ago???

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

I am indeed a bookplate lover, and make different ones for my bookclub members each Christmas!