European bookmarks are often very beautiful and these four of my favourites from the publisher Nieuw Amsterdam of the Netherlands are an example of that.

I received hundreds of stunning bookmarks by the publisher Uitgeverij Cossee of the Netherlands as part of my WOBODA Raffle 1st Prize.  This company produces beautiful bookmarks of exceptional quality and design.  I also like how they incorporate all the information on the front of the bookmark and leave the back blank.  Simple, beautiful bookmarks with great impact.  Here are 16 of my favourites.  I have included others, particularly in the Thematic pages of my website.

When I was unpacking the many parcels containing all the bookmarks I had won in the WOBODA Raffle (see previous posts), I was with my elder sister and elderly mother, who both enjoyed the whole process with me.  They both loved these three bookmarks in particular!  My sister said, "Wow, what hunks" and my 93 year old mother said "they are good looking young men aren't they".  Love it!  They are now way more interested in bookmark collecting.  LOL!

This is certainly one of the more unusual bookmarks I have received!  Yes, it's a toilet seat that clips onto the page of your book (as shown in the second image).  What's it all about Google Translate?

The bookmark is promoting the book "Caca: The Encyclopaedia of Shit" or as it is more politely called "Caca: The Encyclopaedia of Poo" by Oliviero Toscani of Colors magazine.  Fascinating!  Amazon.com told me more about the book:

"From the moment we're born to the moment we die, we produce it. It's as natural as breathing. But many of us can't bear to look at it, touch it or smell it. We dispose of it behind closed doors, flush it down clean white toilets, don't mention it in polite company. It's one of ""civilized"" society's last taboos. Enough! It's the world's most underrated resource. We can cook with it, build with it, admire it, wear it. It's unique (no two examples are alike). It's as old as creation. It will never run out. It's time to celebrate shit.Cacas, the first ever encyclopedia of shit, is a project of Colors. The magazine about the rest of the world, Colors has been on sale bimonthly since 1992 in 80 countries worldwide, in 8 bilingual editions: English paired with Italian, Japanese, Croatian, German, Spanish, Greek, Russian and French. As is the case with every issue of Colors, this book explores a single theme. And, as is the case with the magazine, the book Cacas exists thanks to United Colors of Benetton.
-- Explores 68 different types of animal shit from Antelope to Zebra
-- A unique cultural anthropology about shit
-- Features interesting and fascinating stories around the most natural thing of the world."

This striking set of 6 bookmarks from the Netherlands appears to be a bunch of sportsmen, footballers by the look of it, proffering motivational messages.  I have used Google Translate to translate the Dutch into English.  Hopefully, it is close to the intent of the messages.

The backs of the bookmarks are blank.

A beautiful set of bookmarks from the Netherlands titled "Best of YA" (Young Adult).  The back of the bookmark translates to "35 girls come to the palace, now there are only six".  Intriguing!

Delighted to have received this bookmark in a recent exchange with another bookmark collector.

​I have quite a few poetry books published by Norton on my bookshelves and this bookmark (on the back) lists many of my very favourite poets... Anna Akhmatova, E.E. Cummings, Audre Lorde, Robin Morgan,  Adrienne Rich, Rainer Maria Rilke, May Sarton, Patti Smith, and Wislawa Szymborska.

Ooh I do love Cecily!  I received the "Cecily was determined to turn over a new leaf" bookmark as a donation and already being a fan of Cecily, I searched to see if there were any other bookmarks available.  There were, I purchased them, and I now currently have the whole available set.  Yay!

As the Cecily website says, and do take a look...

"In case you have not been introduced to Cecily she is a cartoon character. Not just a stick thin pencil line drawing though, she is a well-rounded character, sometimes more well-rounded than she would like! Cecily is someone that women will recognise, for Cecily’s foibles are their own. Cecily diets, skips gym classes, sometimes drinks too much and worries about how she looks. She has bad hair days, occasionally consults her horoscope and struggles with technology. She is a modern woman who lives life to the full as she pursues career, friendship and love.

Cecily’s humour can be found on tasteful, useful and quality merchandise such as cards, tea towels, calendars, reading glasses, books etc. These can be viewed under the 'Products' tab on this web site and are available for you to purchase. Cecily merchandise can also be found in many quality gift and bookstores, a list of which can be seen under the ‘Stockists’ tab.

Have fun with Cecily!"

Celia Allison is the creator of Cecily.

​Here are the six currently available Cecily bookmarks...

...and then there is "The Cecily Book Book" with 20 tear-out bookmarks and a loan record...

When going through antique and vintage bookmarks one often comes across one that by today's standards, is considered "politically incorrect"... this c. 1930s bookmark is very much one of them!  Aargh!  Reeks of white superiority, racism and British colonialism.

Arthur Barker Limited was founded in London by Arthur Barker in 1932, and published a range of general titles, with an emphasis on fiction. During the Second World War Barker was a Japanese prisoner-of-war, and publishing was suspended between 1939 and 1946. The firm was purchased by the printing company Morrison and Gibb in 1946, and in 1959 sold to George Weidenfeld, where it became an imprint of Weidenfeld and Nicolson. The imprint ceased in 1991.

"I love Pippi Longstocking"... me too!  Happy 70th Pippi, actually 74th now!  

​Great bookmark!

Loved reading Pippi when I was a kid.

​Read all about Pippi Longstocking
(full name Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking).

These are two very attractive bookmarks from Lithuania.  Lovely graphics.

As the bookmarks indicate, Ekslibris.lt produces custom made stamps of all kinds, including for use as bookplates (ex libris), authorial marks, or for promotional / advertising purposes.

One of my favourite ways to collect bookmarks is to ask any public library I belong to, or am visiting, if they have a stash of bookmarks accumulated from borrowers who have (one assumes accidentally) left them in their returned books.

Most libraries leave forgotten bookmarks in a box on the counter so patrons can retrieve them.  Inevitably, most people don't come back for the bookmarks.  Great news for we collectors as in my experience, libraries are very happy for me to take those bookmarks I want and add them to my collection.  Usually, the librarian is fascinated to hear that there is such a thing as bookmark collecting!

Today, I got a dozen interesting bookmarks from my public library and I especially love this one - "The Librarians", one of my all-time favourite TV comedies.  As a former librarian myself, this show really struck a chord and gave me plenty of belly laughs.

The Librarians is an Australian television comedy series which premiered on 31 October 2007 on ABC TV. The series is produced and written by Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope who are also the principal cast members. Hope is also the series' director. The first series comprised six half-hour episodes. 
 
The second series with another six episodes began airing on 5 August 2009.
 
The series centres on the trials and tribulations of Frances O'Brien, a devoutly Catholic and blithely racist Head Librarian. Her life unravels when she is forced to employ her ex-best friend, Christine Grimwood – now a drug dealer – as the Children's Librarian. Frances must do all she can to contain her menacing past and concentrate on the biggest event of the library calendar – Book Week.
 
Filming on a third and final series took place in early 2010.

Hilarious!!!

I have seen many thousands of bookmarks in my time, but I still get amazed at the ingenuity and quirkiness of some of them!  This "The Fishing Boats Bookmark" is certainly one of them.

You pull the tab at the bottom and the boats move as if moving on the ocean.  Such fun!

The bookmark is by HunkyDory Designs Ltd., England, and was brilliantly designed and engineered by Jasper Dimond in 1991.

Wow, just love this fold-out bookmark!  What's not to love... colour, stunning clothes, fold-out style, and die-cut!  Ticks a lot of boxes for me this one!

My research revealed that...

​Maggie Shepherd is an Australian fashion designer from Canberra, and this bookmark (and/or fancy business card)  was published to promote her stores "Shepherds Australia".
Maggie Shepherd's signature mark was bold colourful designs using "clashing colours" that reeked of the 80s, says Dale.  The designer's clothes were also very comfortable and it didn't matter if they got crushed, which made them perfect for travelling.
Maggie Shepherd learnt how to sew from her mother, Effie (Euphemia) Makin, who was also a well-known Canberra dressmaker.

Maggie took her designs to the local Canberra markets in the 1970s and her clothes became so popular that she soon opened a store in Petrie Plaza, Canberra.

The brightly colourful clothing range expanded and at its height there were eight Maggie Shepherd stores in Australian and eleven in America.

Maggie was also regarded as one of Australia's most successful fashion exporters.

​Sadly, I don't have any of Maggie's clothes but I do have one of her bookmarks.  Yay!

I was catching up on reading the newspaper this morning (from last weekend) and this interesting article and image caught my attention.  I knew the image straight away as I saw the fabulous Deborah Klein exhibition at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery (Art Gallery of Ballarat) a few years ago and purchased a bookmark of one of my favourite of her paintings, 'Vorticist'.

I love it when various things in life come together... in this case: an exhibition, a bookmark, and several years later an interesting article that tells you more.