Mark it

BOOKMARKS ARE AN INTRIGUING AND HIGHLY COLLECTABLE TYPE OF EPHEMERA. PROVIDED YOU CAN SET SOME LIMITS.  The next issue, #7 of the Ephemera Journal of Australia looks at a contemporary collection. The collector, ESA member Wendi Bradshaw sets the scene with a short history of the bookmark and then the story behind items in her own collection. #7 will be out in early 2021.

Others have enjoyed talking or writing about bookmarks – a favourite although not apt for Wendi’s article is:

..When a bookmark tumbles out of an old book pristine and unwrinkled, it is like a gasp of breath from another century..from Borchert, Don – Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library.

It comes from the interesting website, The International Friends of Bookmarks – and you can use it to identify collectors in countries including Australia. Browsing I came across this terrific website of a vast private collection called Le Musée du Marque-Page. 

Back issue looked at older bookmarks

The Ephemera Society looked at some lovely old Australian bookmarks in our Ephemera Newsletter + What’s on #6, December 2017. It is an eight page full colour newsletter also featuring Father Christmas ephemera; some local jazz club ephemera and the celebration of Australia Day in July. If you would like a copy the cost is $6.50 including ordinary postage. There are just a few copies left. Express your interest by putting a comment in the comments’ box.