With the advent of printed books, the question immediately arose about their safety in personal collections and libraries. And the next logical step was the invention of the ex-libris - a special sign that is pasted or imprinted by the owner on the inside of the book cover.
Ex libris originated in Germany in the 16th century, almost immediately after the invention of printing. In Russia, these "book signs" appeared only under Peter 1. However, in the last century, rare manuscripts of the Solovetsky Monastery, dated to the end of the 15th century, were discovered. They were painted bookplates.
Such different bookplates
The ex-libris can either be pasted on the inside of the binding of the book, or be printed using a special print - they were made in many according to individual orders. There were even such varieties of bookmark names as superexlibris, where an imprint was made on the spine of a book.
The ex-libris often contained the owner's name and was often supplemented by his occupation and interests. If one can draw such an analogy, then the bookplate was the predecessor of the electronic tag, which is put in the virtual library, or the watermark.
Ex-librises could be simple and unpretentious, or very sophisticated and complex in composition. Sometimes they were just a label with the owner's name, his signature, a simple badge invented by the owner of the publication. In some cases, it was supplemented with a personal motto or marked with an emblem.
There were also artful works of ex-libris. They were created using high (for that time) technologies and were small print-engravings on copper or wood. In their manufacture, a lithographic or zincographic method was used. Among the authors of complex bookplates, it is worth mentioning Albrecht Durer and Favorsky.
Types of ex-libris
Experts divide all bookplates into:
- coat of arms - they depict the personal coat of arms of the owner, in Russia there was a special demand for such things at the beginning of the twentieth century among the nobility who did not have time or did not want to emigrate;
- monogram - simpler, but in a special ornament, the initials of the owner were indicated on them;
- plot - landscape compositions, emblems, architecture were mainly used here (they were especially popular in the twentieth century).
Nowadays, when many people collect not paper, but electronic libraries, the role of ex-libris is falling. Although, since real books are used less and less, it is possible that the artistic label may come back into fashion as a kind of tribute to the past.
It is worth noting that there are already two ex-libris museums, one of which is in Moscow. And there are thousands of collections of these book graphic miniatures.