WELCOME TO
"Mark My Place! Debrah's International Bookmark Collection"
"Mark My Place! Debrah's International Bookmark Collection"
'The bookmark changed in the course of time from the mere text marker to a carrier of communication,
from a marker for reading it turned into a mark which can be read for itself.'
~ Heidemarie Fischer-Kesselmann
Debrah Gai Lewis (2014)
I have been an avid reader since childhood, an enthusiastic book collector since my early teens and a keen collector of bookmarks (aka bookmarkers) for the last twenty years - at first serendipitously and then more intentionally!
The bookmarks in my collection are (1) ones I have freely and personally gathered from bookshops, libraries, museums and other places and events in Australia and overseas; (2) ones I have discovered left in some of the used books I have purchased; (3) ones I have found left abandoned in library books I have borrowed; (4) ones I have chanced upon in a variety of weird, wacky and wonderful places; (5) commercial ones that I have purchased from bookshops and elsewhere; (6) ones I have received through swaps with other bookmark collectors around the world; and (7) ones that have been gifted or donated to me by various people.
I am very grateful for these donations and love having them in my collection. Thank you!
Donations to my collection are always welcome. (I am not currently swapping / exchanging bookmarks).
I enjoy collecting all bookmark genres but my favourite genre is bookshop (bookstore) bookmarks, that is, bookmarks promoting bookshops, the ones they give you for free with your purchase(s) or even for just being a browser in their shop.
I prefer paper/cardboard bookmarks but I do have some plastic, metal, wooden, leather and cloth bookmarks in my collection.
Part of me loves, enjoys and relishes this hobby of bookmark collecting and part of me thinks it is dorky, nerdy and a bit of a waste of time! The first part wins out though. Like all people who have the collection bug, whatever it is they may collect, there is no point trying to rationalise, explain or justify it. I have decided to just enjoy it and to share some (but not all) of my 6,000+ bookmarks with you, via this website and its blog. So, welcome to my virtual bookmark exhibition!
To me, bookmarks, in addition to their function of marking the place one is up to in a book, are small works of art and beauty or whimsy and many of them share inspirational, important and educational messages in a compact, effective and meaningful way. It is probably not too much of a stretch to say that the words / information on some bookmarks, especially those in the health, medical, and emergency services genres, have contributed to saving people's lives!
Certainly, I find that many of my bookmarks, especially those I have personally collected, are enduring and treasured mementos of favourite bookshops, books, places, people and events in my life. My other bookmarks, the ones that have been donated to me or swapped with me, have been sources of learning as they have initiated my research into where they are from or what they are about. (Yes, I am a bit of an information / research junkie)! You can see plenty of evidence of this on my blog!
PRIZES AND AWARDS: On 25 February 2019, I was the lucky winner of the World Bookmark Day Celebration Raffle. Wow! This added over 2,500 Australian and international bookmarks to my collection. Thank you to the organisers and all donors for this amazing prize! I am very grateful and very busy sorting and organising!
In 2020, I was the winner and grateful recipient of the Asim Maner Award, awarded annually by the International Friends of Bookmarks (IFOB), for the promoting of bookmarks. This award was in recognition of several of my bookmark collecting activities, including this website and its blog. My award included over 200 donated bookmarks and other bookmark related gifts.
Long live the bookmark!
Thank you for visiting my website and viewing my bookmarks. Enjoy!
PS: I also digitally collect (pin) bookmarks of all kinds on Pinterest. Click on LINK to see them all. As of 24 April 2023, I have 19,000 bookmarks pinned on my board and over 4,000 followers, many of whom have re-pinned my pins. There are clearly lots of bookmark fans out there!
Debrah Gai Lewis
LILLIAN ROCK - NEW SOUTH WALES - AUSTRALIA
Bookmark Collector - Book Collector - Reader - former Librarian - SoulCollage® Facilitator (and various other things)!
The bookmarks in my collection are (1) ones I have freely and personally gathered from bookshops, libraries, museums and other places and events in Australia and overseas; (2) ones I have discovered left in some of the used books I have purchased; (3) ones I have found left abandoned in library books I have borrowed; (4) ones I have chanced upon in a variety of weird, wacky and wonderful places; (5) commercial ones that I have purchased from bookshops and elsewhere; (6) ones I have received through swaps with other bookmark collectors around the world; and (7) ones that have been gifted or donated to me by various people.
I am very grateful for these donations and love having them in my collection. Thank you!
Donations to my collection are always welcome. (I am not currently swapping / exchanging bookmarks).
I enjoy collecting all bookmark genres but my favourite genre is bookshop (bookstore) bookmarks, that is, bookmarks promoting bookshops, the ones they give you for free with your purchase(s) or even for just being a browser in their shop.
I prefer paper/cardboard bookmarks but I do have some plastic, metal, wooden, leather and cloth bookmarks in my collection.
Part of me loves, enjoys and relishes this hobby of bookmark collecting and part of me thinks it is dorky, nerdy and a bit of a waste of time! The first part wins out though. Like all people who have the collection bug, whatever it is they may collect, there is no point trying to rationalise, explain or justify it. I have decided to just enjoy it and to share some (but not all) of my 6,000+ bookmarks with you, via this website and its blog. So, welcome to my virtual bookmark exhibition!
To me, bookmarks, in addition to their function of marking the place one is up to in a book, are small works of art and beauty or whimsy and many of them share inspirational, important and educational messages in a compact, effective and meaningful way. It is probably not too much of a stretch to say that the words / information on some bookmarks, especially those in the health, medical, and emergency services genres, have contributed to saving people's lives!
Certainly, I find that many of my bookmarks, especially those I have personally collected, are enduring and treasured mementos of favourite bookshops, books, places, people and events in my life. My other bookmarks, the ones that have been donated to me or swapped with me, have been sources of learning as they have initiated my research into where they are from or what they are about. (Yes, I am a bit of an information / research junkie)! You can see plenty of evidence of this on my blog!
PRIZES AND AWARDS: On 25 February 2019, I was the lucky winner of the World Bookmark Day Celebration Raffle. Wow! This added over 2,500 Australian and international bookmarks to my collection. Thank you to the organisers and all donors for this amazing prize! I am very grateful and very busy sorting and organising!
In 2020, I was the winner and grateful recipient of the Asim Maner Award, awarded annually by the International Friends of Bookmarks (IFOB), for the promoting of bookmarks. This award was in recognition of several of my bookmark collecting activities, including this website and its blog. My award included over 200 donated bookmarks and other bookmark related gifts.
Long live the bookmark!
Thank you for visiting my website and viewing my bookmarks. Enjoy!
PS: I also digitally collect (pin) bookmarks of all kinds on Pinterest. Click on LINK to see them all. As of 24 April 2023, I have 19,000 bookmarks pinned on my board and over 4,000 followers, many of whom have re-pinned my pins. There are clearly lots of bookmark fans out there!
Debrah Gai Lewis
LILLIAN ROCK - NEW SOUTH WALES - AUSTRALIA
Bookmark Collector - Book Collector - Reader - former Librarian - SoulCollage® Facilitator (and various other things)!
Debrah at home having fun sorting through some of the bookmarks she won in the 2019 World Bookmark Day Raffle
A few things to note about the bookmarks on this website:
- I mostly scan and show the front of each bookmark.
- Sometimes I scan and show the front and back of a bookmark if the back is interesting or explains what the bookmark is, where this is not evident on the front.
- Sometimes I scan more than one bookmark per image if the bookmarks are a series.
- The scans of the bookmarks are not necessarily to scale.
"Sometimes a bookmark can bring a smile, sometimes cause a pause for thought but it nearly always sparks off a memory
and apart from a postcard or a photograph there is not many things that have the power to do that".
- Simon Quicke, The Love of Bookmarks, insidebooks.blogspot.com
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