The History of Bookplates (Ex Libris): From Ownership Marks to Art

A bookplate — the small printed or engraved label pasted inside the front cover of a book, typically bearing the owner’s name and the Latin phrase “Ex Libris” (from the library of) — is one of the oldest and most persistent forms of book ownership marking. Bookplates have been used continuously since the late fifteenth century, and their history reflects the broader history of printing, art, social class, and the changing meaning of book ownership itself.

For collectors, bookplates occupy a complicated position: they can add value (when the owner is famous), reduce value (when they obscure the endpapers of an otherwise pristine copy), or serve as fascinating provenance evidence (when they document a book’s passage through notable collections). Understanding bookplates — their history, their varieties, and their impact on collecting — is part of the education of any serious bibliophile.

Origins

The earliest known bookplate is generally attributed to a German knight, Bernhard von Rohrbach, and dates to approximately 1470. Early bookplates were heraldic — they displayed the owner’s coat of arms, establishing the book as property of a specific family or institution. This heraldic tradition dominated bookplate design for the first two centuries of their existence.

The practice spread from Germany to other European countries during the sixteenth century. English bookplates appeared in the early sixteenth century, initially in ecclesiastical and institutional contexts (college libraries, monastic collections) before being adopted by private collectors. French, Italian, and Spanish bookplates followed similar trajectories.

Periods and Styles

Bookplate design has evolved through several distinct periods, each reflecting the artistic and social sensibilities of its time:

Heraldic period (1470–1700)

The earliest bookplates were essentially small engravings of the owner’s coat of arms, often surrounded by mantling, supporters, and mottoes. These bookplates served a primarily social function: they announced the book’s owner as a person of rank and family. Heraldic bookplates were produced by the same engravers who created armorial documents, seals, and other insignia of rank.

Chippendale period (c. 1740–1780)

Named after the furniture designer Thomas Chippendale, whose decorative style influenced bookplate design during this period. Chippendale bookplates feature the owner’s arms or name surrounded by elaborate rococo frames — scrollwork, foliage, ribbons, and asymmetrical ornamental borders characteristic of the mid-eighteenth century.

Pictorial and literary period (c. 1870–1920)

The aesthetic movement and the Arts and Crafts revival produced a golden age of bookplate design. Artists including Aubrey Beardsley, Kate Greenaway, and Eric Gill designed bookplates that were miniature works of art in their own right — pictorial compositions featuring landscapes, classical figures, literary allusions, and decorative borders. This period also saw the rise of the bookplate collector: people who collected bookplates as objects independent of the books they were pasted into.

Modern and contemporary period (c. 1920–present)

Twentieth-century bookplates reflect the full range of modern graphic design — Art Deco, modernist typography, abstract composition, and digital design. Notable twentieth-century bookplate designers include Rockwell Kent, whose bold graphic style influenced American bookplate design for decades.

Types of Bookplates

Armorial

Bearing the owner’s coat of arms. The oldest and most traditional type, still used by families with heraldic entitlements.

Pictorial

Featuring an image — a landscape, a portrait, a literary scene, a symbolic composition — chosen by the owner to represent their interests, personality, or library theme.

Typographic

Using text alone — the owner’s name, “Ex Libris,” and perhaps a motto or quotation — rendered in a distinctive typeface. Typographic bookplates can be elegant in their simplicity.

Photographic

Using a photographic image of the owner, their home, or another personally significant image. More common in the twentieth century.

Library stamps

Technically not bookplates, but functionally similar: rubber stamps or inked impressions bearing the name or insignia of an institution or private library. Library stamps are generally less attractive and more damaging than bookplates, because the ink can bleed through paper.

Bookplates and Book Value

The impact of a bookplate on a book’s value depends entirely on whose bookplate it is:

Bookplates that add value

A bookplate from a famous person or a notable collection adds provenance and, therefore, value. Books bearing the bookplates of presidents, literary figures, famous collectors, or major institutional libraries command premiums that reflect the significance of the previous owner.

Examples of valuable bookplates:

• Royal and presidential bookplates. Books from the libraries of monarchs, presidents, and heads of state carry significant premiums.
• Famous collectors’ bookplates. The bookplates of A. Edward Newton, Estelle Doheny, Jerome Kern, and other legendary collectors are themselves marks of distinction.
• Author bookplates. A book from another author’s library — bearing their bookplate — creates an association that can be as valuable as an inscription.

Bookplates that reduce value

An unknown person’s bookplate, while not damaging to the book in any practical sense, is generally considered a negative condition factor for collectible books. It marks the endpapers, makes the book feel “personal” to someone other than the current owner, and (most significantly) it represents a departure from the book’s original state.

The reduction is modest for common books — perhaps 5–15% — but can be more significant for high-grade copies where collectors expect pristine, unmarked endpapers. A book described as “Fine” with a bookplate will be valued below a truly Fine copy without one.

The removal question

Should you remove a bookplate? The answer depends on whose bookplate it is:

• A famous person’s bookplate: never. It is a provenance marker and a value-enhancer. Removing it destroys evidence and reduces value.
• An unknown person’s bookplate: possibly, but carefully. If the bookplate is damaging the endpapers or reducing the book’s value, careful removal by a professional conservator may be justified. However, amateur removal often causes worse damage than the bookplate itself — torn paper, residual adhesive, and staining.
• When in doubt, leave it. A bookplate is part of the book’s history, and every alteration to a book removes information and authenticity.

Bookplates as Collectibles

Bookplate collecting (also called “ex librism”) is a distinct hobby with its own societies, publications, and market. Collectors of bookplates seek plates by specific artists, from specific periods, or belonging to specific individuals. Notable bookplate collecting societies include the American Society of Bookplate Collectors & Designers and the Bookplate Society (UK).

Bookplates are collected both as items removed from books (a practice that bibliophiles generally deplore, since it damages both the plate and the book) and as separately printed specimens (spare plates ordered by the bookplate’s owner but never pasted into books).

Making Your Own Bookplate

Many collectors commission personal bookplates, and the tradition of marking your books with a tasteful plate is far from dead. A well-designed bookplate serves practical purposes (identifying your books if loaned or stolen) and adds a layer of personal provenance that future owners may find interesting.

If you commission a bookplate:

• Use acid-free paper and archival adhesive. Cheap paper and non-archival glue will yellow, brittle, and stain the endpapers.
• Keep the design appropriate to your books. A bookplate should complement, not clash with, the books it appears in.
• Include your name and a date or date range. Future owners and scholars will appreciate knowing when the book was in your collection.
• Use a reversible adhesive. Wheat paste or other reversible adhesives allow future removal without damage if necessary.

A well-chosen bookplate is a small statement of identity and intent — a declaration that this book belongs to someone who values it, and a marker that will outlast the collector’s own lifetime to become part of the book’s ongoing story.