Donation - Asim Maner Award.

These four beautiful, glossy, gold-edged bookmarks were issued by Turnowsky's Art (date unknown).  Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, the House of Turnowsky, is a global brand well -known for its luxury paper products, unique designs and original gifts, including bookmarks.  I have about 50 Turnowsky bookmarks in my collection.

1. Spring by Sandro Botticelli (detail)
2. The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (detail)
3. Spring by Sandro Botticelli (detail)
​4. Woman with Parasol by Claude Monet (detail)

This beautiful bookmark from France was issued by Chevalier Conservation, a company who conserve and restore ancient, oriental and European tapestries and textiles.  They showcase some of their projects in their Galerie Chevalier.

This particular bookmark features a section of a tapestry that shows a woman playing the tambourine.  I am drawn to it because I have always felt drawn to images of women playing tambourines and frame drums.  One of my all time favourite books, which features such images and more, is When the Drummers Were Women: A Spiritual History of Rhythm by Layne Redmond.  For millennia, the sacred drummers of pre-Christian Mediterranean and western Asia were women. In this inspiring book, Layne Redmond, herself a renowned drummer, tells their history.

Tambourine - History

Tambourines originated in the Near East. They came into being when bells and other rattles of various kinds were attached to the shell of a frame drum. Initially though, frame drums without bells were also commonly referred to as tambourines. The instrument was already known to the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians: in Egypt it was used in religious ceremonies by female temple dancers. Women were the principal players of tambourines in other early civilizations, too. Apart from being used to accompany dances, tambourines were also played in processions, at festivities and at funerals.

Although the size of the instrument and the shape of the jingles have undergone numerous changes over the centuries the structure has always remained the same; the tambourines used by the Greeks and Romans looked very much the same as the modern instrument.

The instrument of angels and traveling entertainers

In the Middle Ages the tambourine was already common all over Europe. In medieval Britain it was known first as the tymbre, and until the 18th century as the tabret or timbrel. In France, Spain (where it is called the pendereta) and in southern Italy its importance as a folk instrument has never diminished. But the tambourine as a part of folk entertainment is not confined to Europe; it is also found in many other cultures, for instance in China, India, Peru, Greenland, the Caucasus and central Asia.

The medieval tambourine consisted of a rectangular or round flat wood frame with a single head; the underside was open. Four or more pairs of jingles were let into the shell at regular intervals. These jingles were somewhat larger and thicker than today’s. In addition to or instead of the jingles small bells or other objects that produced a rattling noise were fixed to the frame. The tambourine was struck either with the flat of the hand or with the fingers in the same way as its ancient predecessor. Medieval paintings and carvings, as well as religious manuscripts, often portray the instrument being played by angels. On the other hand, the tambourine was also a favorite instrument of itinerant entertainers and minstrels.

Donation - Asim Maner Award

I have always wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago (Northern Spain route) but have not yet managed to do so.  I have read many books by people who have walked it (and other routes) and I loved the movie The Way starring Martin Sheen, which I have now watched several times on video after having first seen it at the cinema.

So, I was delighted to receive this bookmark which shows a pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago in Palencia, a region and city in northern Spain on the northern pilgrimage route.  The back of the bookmark lists towns and cities in Palencia which are on the pilgrimage route.

Donation - Asim Maner Award

I have long loved the surrealist art of Salvador Dali, so I was thrilled to receive these three bookmarks issued by the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.

Donation - Asim Maner Award

These Dover Bookmarks are colourful and striking.  Each bookmark comes from and promotes one of the Dover Publications titles.  The Rudolph Valentino paper doll bookmark is rather chic... or is that sheik 🤣😂.

There is no information on the bookmarks to indicate their publication dates.

Donation - Asim Maner Award

Here are 14 colourful bookmarks from BahriSons Booksellers of New Delhi, India, A family-run bookshop since the opening in 1953 of its first store in the Khan Market.

No information is given on the back of the bookmarks in relation to the designs.

... and here are two earlier bookmarks.  The quality of these is superb. The surface of each is slightly raised and they thus have a lovely tactile quality to them.

Donation - Asim Maner Award

Two bookmarks featuring beautiful sculptures by Yves Le Pape (1926-2016).  Look at those sublime faces!  I particularly love the subtle smiles.

Yves Le Pape, of Breton origin , was born in February 1926 in Pont-l'Abbé , in Finistère, France.
 
His studies lead him to Tours , where he was a student at the School of Fine Arts (although some reports say he was self-taught.
 
His favourite specialty was the Virgin and Child, of which he sculpted several thousand copies, in sixty-five years. 
 
The wood he used was mainly from oak, chestnut or iroko , an African wood. He polished his works with a gouge and a clasp, without sandpaper, and with a wax finish. He also sculpted in stone.
 
He exhibited in 1979 at the Orangerie of the Palais du Luxembourg.
 
A number of churches like that of the Augustins of Marseille , chapels, abbeys like Notre-Dame de Venière , and monasteries have one or more works by Le Pape.  Numerous of his sculptures are also in private collections.

Donation - Asim Maner Award

Four beautiful bookmarks featuring the illustrations of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840).  

Pierre-Joseph Redouté, was a painter and botanist from Belgium, known for his watercolours of roses, lilies and other flowers at Malmaison, many of which were published as large, color stipple engravings. He was nicknamed "the Raphael of flowers" and has been called the greatest botanical illustrator of all time.

Redouté was an official court artist of Marie Antoinette, and continued painting through the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. He survived the turbulent political upheaval to gain international recognition for his precise renderings of plants, which remain as fresh in the early 21st century as when first painted. He combined great artistic skills with a pleasing, ingratiating personality which assisted him with his influential patrons. After Queen Marie-Antoinette, his patrons included both of Napoleon's wives -- Empress Joséphine and Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma—as well as Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily wife of Louis Philippe I, the last king of France.

​Redouté collaborated with the greatest botanists of his day and participated in nearly fifty publications depicting both the familiar flowers of the French court and plants from places as distant as Japan, America, South Africa, and Australia. He worked from live plants rather than herbarium specimens, which contributed to his fresh, subtle renderings. He was painting during a period in botanical illustration (1798 – 1837) that is noted for the publication of outstanding folio editions with coloured plates. Redouté produced over 2,100 published plates depicting over 1,800 different species, many never rendered before.

Donation by Robyn Williams (the Claire Williams Collection)

On 2 October 2018 on this blog, I posted a story about a generous donation from  Robyn Williams on behalf of her mother Claire.  You can read that post HERE.

One year later in September 2019, Robyn contacted me to say she had found more of her mother's bookmarks and would I like them.  Yes please!

Robyn kindly posted them to me in the original two folders her mother had housed them.  Some of the bookmarks were loose but most of them were stuck onto paper using double-sided tape and placed in the plastic sleeves of the folders.  On many of the pages were Claire's handwritten annotations with information such as who had gifted her the bookmarks, or where she herself had got them from.  Many of the bookmarks were acquired in Australian or overseas travels, so going through the bookmarks is also like going travelling!  Delightful.

As for the first donation to me from Claire through Robyn, I feel blessed and honoured to now be the custodian of these bookmarks, which were obviously loved and treasured by their previous collector.  Thank you.

​Here is a selection of the bookmarks.

On 25 February 2020, World Bookmark Day, I was delighted and thrilled to receive the news from Laine Farley of the International Friends of Bookmarks that I had been selected as the second Asim Maner Award winner, an annual award for promoting bookmarks.  I am honoured to receive this award in the name of the late Asim Maner, who was an avid bookmark collector, promoter of bookmark collecting and a manufacturer of unique and beautiful bookmarks. 

While I have been very tardy in writing this blog post, one year after receiving the award, I continue to cherish my award certificate and its accompanying letter, along with the fabulous bookmark prizes I received.  At the time of receiving these I thanked each person individually and privately for their generous donations.  With this blog post, I also now thank them publicly.  Thank you Laine Farley, Georg Hartong, Frank X. Roberts, Ana Matos, and Gaby Dondlinger.

Long live bookmarks, bookmark collecting and the promotion of both!

​- Debrah Gai Lewis

I received these three pretty bookmarks in February 2019 as part of a raffle 1st prize win conducted by the International Friends of Bookmarks (IFOB).  I especially love the middle bookmark and how flowers feature in all three.

All three bookmarks are from BALTO Print of Lithuania, one of the largest book manufacturers (book printing companies) in the Baltic states, printing over 500,000 high-quality books every month for prominent Lithuanian and foreign publishers. 

These five beautiful bookmarks showcasing the stunning art of Fiona Francois were recently gifted to me by my sister.  Thanks Sis!

My sister had visited Fiona's gallery in Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia, when she was there on a holiday in 2018.  She loved Fiona's artwork so much that she again visited in 2019.  This time, knowing my love of this kind of art, and my love of collecting bookmarks, my dear sister bought these five bookmarks for me as a gift.

Great to see a bookmark featuring prominently in this humorous artwork by Eric Lobbecke in the newspaper, The Weekend Australian, August 10-12, 2019.  There it is at the very top left of the page and it again appears behind the child sitting on her plush armchair reading the "Never Ending Story" which is upside down!  LOL!

Meanwhile Mum is in her beach attire sipping on a cocktail while reading her ebook, the dog is trying to get someone interested in a walk and the cat wistfully looks at several book pages floating away in the breeze.  Love it!

I have recently been having fun searching online for bookmarks held by museums, libraries, archives and historical societies.  It is so great to see that there are some bookmarks being collected and preserved by our wonderful public institutions.  

Typically, these bookmarks are donated by people (sometimes famous) as part of their larger donation or bequest of books, documents and other items.

Here are a few examples of these bookmarks that I have found so far in some American institutions.  Click on the institution name to view the bookmark in its original location and to read more about it.

Library of Congress
​The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana
Washington, D.C., USA

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Washington, D.C., USA

​I have recently been having fun searching online for bookmarks held by museums, libraries, archives and historical societies.  It is so great to see that there are some bookmarks being collected and preserved by our wonderful public institutions.  

Typically, these bookmarks are donated by people (sometimes famous) as part of their larger donation or bequest of books, documents and other items.

Here are a few examples of these bookmarks that I have found so far in some British institutions.  Click on the institution name to view the bookmark in its original location and to read more about it.

British Museum
London, UK

Victoria & Albert Museum
London, UK

British Museum
​London, UK

London Transport Museum
UK

I have recently been having fun searching online for bookmarks held by museums, libraries, archives and historical societies.  It is so great to see that there are some bookmarks being collected and preserved by our wonderful public institutions.  

Typically, these bookmarks are donated by people (sometimes famous) as part of their larger donation or bequest of books, documents and other items.

Here are a few examples of these bookmarks that I have found so far in some Australian institutions.  Click on the institution name to view the bookmark in its original location and to read more about it.

For a few years, I have had an alert set up on eBay so that I know when vintage or antique bookmarks are posted for sale.  I also keep an eye out for other bookmarks.  

Yesterday, I received an alert for these stunning bookmarks.  They are a series of 48 bookmarks called "Affichistes de Siecle" (Posters of the Century), representing the 1900s, and were issued (date unknown) by the Centre de L'Affiche (Poster Museum) in Toulouse, France.  Each bookmark features an advertising poster, it's artists name and signature and the date the poster was released.  

Fabulous! I love them all.  Such a great set of bookmarks.  The sale price on eBay of AU$192 however, is a little bit out of my available budget at the moment, but at least I can collect the bookmarks digitally for free and share them here for other bookmark collectors to enjoy and perhaps even purchase!  Enjoy!

PS:  Unfortunately, the eBay seller photographed the bookmarks in plastic sleeves so the images are not as clear and crisp as they would otherwise be.  Not to worry, we can still enjoy them as they are.  

​Click on each image to enlarge.

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.