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ex-libris THE WORLD OF EX-LIBRIS A historical retrospective |
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EX-LIBRIS
OR THE MARK OF POSSESSION OF BOOKS
by Benoît Junod Curator, 'World of Ex-Libris' 1 / 3 Man’s history can be read in terms of communication. First, through language and primitive images. Through the wheel, which gave humans greater mobility. But above all, through the written word, which enabled man to pass on information beyond his own life-span. Engraved on stone, clay or wax tablets, written on papyrus, vellum, parchment and later on paper, texts took the form of books, and these have always been considered privileged vehicles of knowledge, and prized possessions. From earliest times, books have always been cherished and jealously guarded by their owners. It is thus easily understandable that they wished to mark their possession in some way. Such marks, generally termed ex-libris, from the latin phrase meaning from the books of, ‘Bookplates’ in English or ‘Bucheignerzeichen’ (book owners’ marks) in German, have existed for thousands of years: the British Museum, the Louvre and Yale University Gallery have in their collections small Egyptian enamelled tablets which date from around 1400 BC, and were affixed to papyri, stating that they belonged to the library of Pharaoh Amenophis III. These are the earliest recorded ex-libris to date. In mediaeval times in Europe, the book acquired the form it still has today. Until Gutenberg invented the mobile-type printing press in the middle of the fifteenth century, it must be remembered that all books were manuscript, generally copied by scribes in the great Cistercian and Benedictine monasteries. The production of a single book was an arduous and time-consuming task; had not the Church been the vehicle of conservation of knowledge and culture at the time, the whole classical Graeco-Roman heritage might have been lost. Vellum, the cured skin of sheep, goats or calves, was the best and most resistant material for writing on, and had been developed around 150 BC by Eumenes II King of Pergamon, when the Ptolemies forbade the export of papyrus to defend the prestige of their own library. For a book such as the Alcuin Bible, some 210 to 225 sheepskins were necessary; books were therefore immensely valuable, and in libraries were often chained to the tables so that they were not stolen. Paper – a cheaper alternative to vellum – was first produced outside China in Samarkand around 750 AD, and was imported into Europe until the first European paper was produced in the twelfth century. Constituting a library was, even after Gutenberg’s time, an expensive operation, reserved to such as the Church and powerful princes, until the Enlightenment. A library was a source of pride and a key to power. Often, important manuscripts had their owner’s coat-of -arms painted on them so as to prevent theft. Such ex-libris can be seen in the collections of major libraries today. No invention has had a greater influence on the development of mankind than that of printing. Johannes Gutenberg started experimenting with mobile type in the 1430s in Strasbourg and then in Mainz. In 1455/1456 the first printed ‘Gutenberg’ Bible was completed, although it was the work of Gutenberg’s creditor, Fust, and his type-designer, Peter Schoeffer. Printing spread like wildfire. By the end of the fifteenth century, printing was well established all over Europe, and with it, the availability of books multiplied geometrically. Logically, the owner of a now larger library wanted all his volumes to be marked as his property. Since having each book decorated with a hand-painted ex-libris was too costly, artists were solicited to make a small wood or metal engraving with the owner’s coat-of-arms, which could be pasted into each volume. The earliest examples of such ex-libris date from around 1470, in Germany, and were made for books donated to the library of the Charterhouse of Buxheim by Hildebrand Brandenburg and by von Zell. The former is a simple heraldic composition, handcoloured, with a manuscript text by the owner stating the title of the book donated to the Buxheim library, and asking the reader to pray for his soul and those of persons dependant upon him. A third ex-libris of the same period shows a hedgehog and a text which identifies the owner as Johannes Knabensberg, chaplain of the Schönstett family. Early ex-libris were sometimes hand-coloured by the artist, to enhance their beauty. |
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1. Reynolds Stone (GB, 1909-1979)  LONDON LIBRARY, X2, 41 x 67, 1951.
An ex-libris can be a simple calligraphic label such as this one. It was engraved on wood (in mirror image) by the artist, and printed in various colours to indicate different categories of volumes in the library. The quantity printed depends on the number of books into which the owner wants to paste the ex-libris. This plate also exists in a smaller size (23 x 39), for small volumes. |
2. ? (F) LOUIS XV REX FRANC., Supralibros, 58 x 42, c.1750. Supralibros cannot be easily imprinted on binding materials other than leather, or with a substance other than gold leaf, unless they are blind-stamped. They were popular in the past, and significantly so in France, Spain, Italy and Britain, but with the appearence of modern books, and the high cost of leather bindings, supralibros have become less and less common. |
To this definition
of an ex-libris as a small printed graphic work of art, indicating
the name of the owner of a book and pasted into his volumes, one
must add ‘supralibros’, which are heraldic motifs stamped on
the outer surface of the binding, often in gold, with a similar purpose
of identifying the owner. Supralibros were more frequently
used in southern Europe than in Germany or Switzerland, and it
is often said that this somewhat hampered the development of
ex-libris in France, Spain, Italy and Britain.
In Europe, the ‘chab-lon-type’ or wooden stamp ex-libris was sometimes used as far back as the mid-sixteenth century, and its successor, the modern rubber stamp, was a cheap alternative to a printed ex-libris, often used in the last 150 years. In Japan, however, the bookseal (zosho-in), with its beautiful calligraphy, appeared practically at the same time as the first printed European ex-libris. The bookseal of the Daigoji Temple, from around 1470, bears an inscription saying To steal this book closes the gates of Heaven, and to destroy it opens the gates of Hell. Anyone who takes this book without permission will be punished by all the gods of Japan. Thus the oriental ex-libris tradition is in parallel with the occidental one. Western-style printed ex-libris, however, appeared in Japan and China as late as the 1860s, and are in wide use today. |
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