Marking book ownership with art was historically popular
To own a bookplate by a famous artist for your private library was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Now, 100 years on, the New Australian Bookplate Society in Lane Cove is bringing bookplates back.
A bookplate (or ‘ex libris’, Latin for ‘from the books of’) is a paper label pasted inside a book to mark ownership. Bookplates may belong to individuals or organisations, such as the private lending libraries that operated before public libraries opened from the 1950s.
When books were first printed in 15th century Europe, the earliest bookplates followed. Originally copper-plate engravings of coats of arms for the wealthy elite, bookplates developed during the late 19th century into collectible pictorial designs, like miniature works of art. Bookplates could also be biographical, depicting the owner’s home, profession or interests.
In Australia, the 1890s to 1910s saw the first bookplate art, when artists such as Tom Roberts, Thea Proctor and Sydney Long started producing them. Through the efforts of Sydney-based collectors John Lane Mullins and Percy Neville Barnett, among others, in commissioning and exhibiting Australian bookplates, the Australian Ex Libris Society was formed in 1923.
Suddenly, it became fashionable to own a bookplate, whether drawn, etched or cut in lino or wood, by a sought- after Australian artist like Norman and Lionel Lindsay. When the Duke and Duchess of York opened the new federal capital of Canberra in 1927, both were presented with an Adrian Feint- designed bookplate. A gift of a linocut design by George D. Perrottet was presented to the young Princess Elizabeth in 1934.
Lane Mullins’ death in 1939, together with World War II, ended the Australian Ex Libris Society. Enthusiasm remained strong enough amongst collectors for two other groups to form – the NSW Bookplate Club (1932 to 1935) and the Australian Bookplate Club in Victoria (1941 to 1944) – but the Great Depression and World War era was not the right time for such ‘frivolous’ activity.
The 1970s and 1980s saw a resurgence of interest in bookplates. In Sydney, art patron Patrick Corrigan began to commission prominent artists, including Brett Whiteley and James Willebrandt, to create bookplates for him. Significant works from Corrigan’s collection were donated to the Art Gallery of NSW, and he still supports emerging artists through bookplate commissions. In Melbourne, publisher Robert Littlewood produced several books on bookplates of Australian artists. Together with collector Edwin Jewell, Littlewood formed the Keith Wingrove Memorial Trust which sponsors bookplate design competitions.
In 2006, gallerist Elisabeth Bastian and enthusiast Mark Ferson formed the New Australian Bookplate Society in Lane Cove, raising interest in historical and contemporary bookplates. In 2018 the society was gifted the collection of Eirene Mort – a pioneer Australian etcher and artist – accessible online at flickr.com/photos/newaustralianbookplates
See examples from the New Australian Bookplate Society collections at Stanton Library, 234 Miller Street, North Sydney. For more information visit bookplatesociety.org.au
Kelly Mitchell, Stanton Library Historical Services and Mark Ferson, New Australian Bookplate Society