COMMERCIAL bookmarks
These are primarily bookmarks that I have purchased myself from retail stores,
or that have been given to me as gifts over the years, or that have been donated to my collection.
Where my commercial bookmarks fit into one of my designated categories, I have added them to the category rather than here.
or that have been given to me as gifts over the years, or that have been donated to my collection.
Where my commercial bookmarks fit into one of my designated categories, I have added them to the category rather than here.
"The fact is, only few readers buy a bookmark because they are interested in it's function.
Most people buy a bookmark because they find it beautiful. It is sort of love at first sight or impulse buying as marketing gurus would say".
~ Asim Maner
Featured Commercial Bookmark
Gumnut Babies by May Gibbs
Gumnut Babies by May Gibbs
"Gumnut Baby" (Ausiroo Bookmark); Die Cut; Front and Back images
This is a gorgeous die-cut bookmark. I love having this iconic piece of Australiana in my collection (albeit a commercial copy of the original). Apart from being very cute, it is so redolent of Australia's magnificent Eucalypt trees (Gum Trees).
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May Gibbs (Cecilia May Gibbs) is a much loved Australian children's writer and illustrator who lived from 1877-1969. Her books are still read and loved by children and adults alike and many find her Gumnut Babies the most endearing of all her creations.
In her biography of May Gibbs, Maureen Walsh revealed that prior to appearing in books, the Gumnut Baby's first official appearance was in 1913 on a bookmark titled by a contemporary journalist The Spirit of the Bush... "May had begun venturing into commercial areas and wanted a theme for a good Australian bookmark": "I thought of the Australian gum leaf, which was an ideal shape for a bookmark and a pretty thing. In the middle of the night I awoke, and in fancy, saw peeping over a long gum leaf, a little bush sprit with a gum nut on its head. I hand painted them and Lucy Peacock of the Roycroft Library sold them for me at 5s each. They became so popular, later we printed them and sold thousands for 6d each" |
