Great Britain (mainly), various publishers, ca. 1855-1980. 300 different bookmarks, of which several of silk or other cloth; and made of paper or cardboard, with printed text.

The history of printed bookmarks is not well-known, and this large and varied collection certainly and literally adds much to it. There have probably been bookmarks as long as there were books, since they help a book to remain in good shape – in contrast to laying an opened book face down, or folding a dog ear in a page corner. The present collection, spanning more than a century, consists chiefly of British bookmarks, but also includes specimens from Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the USA. It includes silk markers from the 19th century, but also ones made of paper, with elaborate printing; several combine cloth and paper. Four are made of leather, two others from a thin, bronze or copper sheet; several are bookmark and Christmas or greeting card in one. Of the silk specimens, some are typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, others are mechanically woven. Several have biblical themes, others are from insurance companies – including a series issued by the Scottish Widow’s Fund, featuring a suite of engravings by Walter Crane – or from booksellers (often advertising several books), publishers, etc. Of the printed bookmarks, the majority are from the first half of the 20th century – a few are modern. Several are dated, including one from the Scilly Islands, dated 1946, and one with chromolithographed flowers dated 1878. ADDED: Coysh, A. W. (1974) Collecting Bookmarkers. 96 pp.; 159 illustrations. Several bookmarks in this collection, e.g. those by B. H. Blackwell from the mid-1930s, are illustrated and discussed in this work.