 Why Bookmarks?byLauren RobertsPatience, hard thing, but you my trusty mate
Why do people collect bookmarks? What is it about these tiny pieces of paper, metal, and fabric that attract us to seek out and to collect and care for them? I have been asking myself that recently as I have had several occasions to dig through my albums either looking for a specific bookmark. Just yesterday, when I was seeking out something that could stand up, and stand out, in my re-arranged living room bookcase, I began to ponder the mystery that attracted me, a notable non-collector of anything, to them.
My first experience with the idea of bookmarks as something worth collecting began with a non-traditional bookmark. Very non-traditional. In fact, it was nothing more than a clump of hair—male from the look of it—that lay in an old book titled The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac. I found this in an old bookshop. Intrigued, I sat down to look closer when it fell open to an obviously much read chapter titled “Baldness and Intellectuality.” The sight of it, though it charmed me, did not make me think of it as the beginning of a collection, though it was, but it did sufficiently amuse me that I immediately purchased the book. And it was shortly after that when I began to look on eBay for “bookmarks.” Bookmarks fall into the category of what is termed ephemera, which Wikipedia (and many other sources) define as “transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved.” Though many museums and libraries have major collections of various forms of ephemera—menus, postcards, book plates, catalogues—bookmarks are rare if not nearly invisible. No serious study appears to have been made of these. There is an unusual website, EphemeraStudies.org, that does encourage researchers and collectors to “discover and study obscure ephemera that document American culture and life.” The founder is an historian and collector himself and uses the site to share what he finds with others so that all may benefit from the shared information. Yet bookmarks, despite being uncommon research tools, do not seem to be included here. Another site is the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, where I found that “bookmark” is one of their catalog genre terms. Yet I could find nothing else, at least nothing available without a subscription. Why is it that bookmarks have been and apparently continue to be ignored as reference information? Why has no library or other serious institution undertaken to begin a collection of bookmarks? Surely these things—these “finding devices”—tell as much about the culture and times the represent as any other piece of ephemera. And maybe more so. Until relatively recently—until the twentieth century, in fact—print was the one of the most important means of spreading information. Books grew in importance after the invention of the printing press increased their availability and literacy began to gain a foothold among people of all educational levels and financial means. But even before books moved beyond the rarified atmosphere in which handmade books moved, bookmarks were there. People need to mark the place where they stopped reading, after all, and if the “bookmark” hadn’t yet been invented, there were things that would work just as well: straw, string, a vellum thong. Bookmarks of various kinds continue to be used throughout the medieval period; these often consisted of a strip attached to the book itself at the headband. And some, especially those for more valuable books or their more affluent owners or royalty had bookmarks constructed not necessarily of leather, ribbon, or paper but of precious metals and even gemstones. Around the middle of the nineteenth century bookmarks that existed separately from books made their appearance. By the 1860s, machine-woven bookmarks began appearing, and the death of Albert, Prince Consort to Queen Victoria was an occasion that saw the production of many, including these two that I own. The one on the left was issued by J.&J. Cash Coventry (left, below), and the one on the right was by Dalton & Barton and described in: Coventry Herald and Observer on March 28, 1862; it was probably designed by Thomas Clack and drafted by Robert Barton. (Many thanks to Georg Hartong for the additional information on the manufacturers.)
Two manufacturers whose names have become synonymous with bookmarks are Cash and Thomas Stevens. Both became preeminent in their fields, and the latter, whose designs now called Stevensgraphs are particularly collectible, claimed to have produced over nine hundred different designs. But they were not the only ones. Bookmarks for the increasing reading population grew, and the materials used branched out. Toward the last couple of decades in the nineteenth century, businesses began to move outward beyond newspaper and magazine advertisements into promotional items. The move from silk to stiff paper or cardboard had begun but the quality stayed high. Manufacturers wanted inexpensive marketing tools that would keep their names and products in front of those who would purchase them so bookmarks were given most often the women of the household who were, not incidentally, usually the most devoted readers. They may have been inexpensively produced for the time, but today these bookmarks, often made with embossing, exquisite artwork, and gold or silver printing, are highly desirable miniature works of art. Even into the mid-twentieth century bookmarks continued to be produced with love.
One of my favorites is this vase of bookmark flowers titled The Mark of a Book Lover. There is no indication anywhere of who made it, what it was made for, or when it was made. I could guess that it was made for a bookstore and that additional flowers were available for order, but it would be strictly a guess. The background card upon which the vase sits has slit and a pull card allows you to sit it upright like a picture frame. Which I do. This is the one that sits proudly on one shelf of my bookcase.
Of course, these are by no means all my bookmarks. Though my collecting has come to a temporary halt due to the rough economy I am not through. I will return, but in the meantime I will continue to display and enjoy the bookmarks I have. Most of the two-dimensional ones are in acid-free binders, but the three-dimensional ones, and a few others, are kept on permanent display in the living room, in a special antique Italian coffee table I found. The table has a lovely teal felt-lined drawer in the bottom, and there sit some of the most exquisite of my collection. From my reading corners on the sofas I can look over and catch a glimpse of them now and again. And I know each time I see them I can answer the question I initially posed: Why do people collect bookmarks? For me, the answer is that they are not only beautiful, though most are that, but they these tiny bits of ephemera carry a book load of history in them. There is far more than ink, paper, cotton, silk, gold, silver or other physical materials in them. These are repositories of historical knowledge. It may be a heavy burden for a tiny bookmark to carry, but they do it well. And I love them for it. Bookmark specifications: Hair Bookmark specifications: Albert the Good Bookmark specifications: H.R.H. Prince Consort Bookmark specifications: Vase Bookmark specifications: Flower
Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately the same number of books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.
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