"Only in books has mankind known perfect truth, love and beauty."
—George Bernard Shaw 

In decades past, when books were rarer than they are today, knowing who owned which was a matter of lifting the front cover. Pasted on the inside was a unique rectangular label bearing the owner's name, perhaps an illustration, and often the Latin words "Ex Libris" — a phrase used all over the world to mean “from the library of.” Today it is still possible to find books adorned with these exquisitely civilized and personal labels. Many of them are in inherited collections. Sometimes they can be found in bookstores, standing with the classics on the shelves of used books. And of course they can even be seen in the personal libraries of a few modern readers who cherish their collections as booklovers did so long ago.

At Bookplates.com, we appreciate the importance of doing things well. The quality of our bookplates is guaranteed. We still use printing plates and offset lithography with dense black printer's ink—not toner as in digital presses and copy machines. The paper we use is bright white and highly opaque, acid free, lignin free, and buffered for true archival quality. The included tin of Coccoina paste is an acid free Italian-made adhesive. The brush comes cleverly encased inside the canister the same way it was in packaged 1921.

When you order from Bookplates.com, your bookplate is exclusively yours. The visual elements for each bookplate have been coordinated by a graphic designer with the numerous typesetting possibilities. After you submit you order, a new printing plate is made with your artwork in its entirety, and your bookplates are printed and trimmed to size by a professional pressman. 

Bookplate orders ship as complete kits with all of the necessary accessories. You will receive your bookplates packaged in a storage box along with the paste and brush, a burnisher, and some tips on bookplating. Click about the bookplates to see an example order.

Pressure sensitive (crack-and-peel) sticker paper, while not advisable for use in fine books, is available by special request.  Other options include custom ink colors, four color process printing, commissioned illustrations and designs, letterpress printing, and more. Simply contact us with a description of your project, attaching pictures if possible. All bookplate projects are of interest to us. We look forward to hearing from you!

"I find television very educational. Every time someone turns it on, I go in the other room and read a book." 
—Groucho Marx