Ex Libris: The Art of Bookplates

Every purchase supports the British Museum A delightfully attractive book presenting the bookplate – a neglected art form that has nevertheless been practised by leading artists of their generation, from Albrecht Dürer to Edward Burne-Jones A bookplate, or Ex Libris, is a small print for pasting inside the cover of a book to express ownership The first books were highly valuable and prestigious objects to own, hence the first bookplates usually incorporated the decorative coats of arms of the fabulously wealthy By the late nineteenth century, bookplates had developed into a highly imaginative form of the engraver’s and printmaker’s art in miniature