Cool Gift of the Day
Monday, February 27, 2006
What it is:
A bookplate to identify books with their owner, custom-designed to suit them.
Why we love it:
There was a time, (though it's hard to even remember) when books were considered works of art in and of themselves, not just the text within them, but the binding, illustrating and type-facing that went into each carefully crafted edition. Books were things cherished and passed down, prized possessions that indicated the owner's wealth of knowledge and information. One who loved books didn't simply buy and own books, they created a library. Long before the days of supermarket paperbacks, when books were considered an item of value, it was traditional to place your mark in the books that you owned. This mark, traditionally called "ex libris", meaning "from the books of", served as an indicator of ownership and an expression of the value of the tome. Today, ex libris are more about form than function, one could easily simply scrawl their name on the inside cover of the book if the only purpose was to identify the owner. For some though, the other purpose, the purpose of expressing the value and care invested in books, remains as important today as it did in eons past. As a truly unique gift for a dedicated reader and lover of all things booky, consider a beautiful, custom-designed ex libris. You submit a description of your recipient, their interests, lifestyle and dreams, and an artist will create a custom ex libris, solely for your recipient. The gift includes the framed original ex libris, 30 ex libris stickers and a CD with a scanned version of the ex libris for reproduction. The ex libris an artful way for a bibliophile to show off their collection, and their dedication to the craft of books.
Where to get it:
From
Ona for $142 in cheap dimestore paperbacks.