Cutout advertising bookmark from 1930s published by the Italian insurance company Compagnia Assicurazione di Milano
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Welcome to our Homepage |
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International Friends of Bookmarks (IFOB) is a community of bookmark lovers with members all over the world who are interested in bookmarks, such as passionate readers, bookmark collectors, librarians, illustrators, blog editors, product designers, bookshop owners, bookmark producers, and others. Read more about us & our mission and join us here.
What's New
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367 total members from 47 countries; 159 on the Swap page; updated 11 March 2026
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For information on membership benefits and to become a member, fill out the form at the bottom of the About page.
Newsletter #30 sent 30 November 2025 Contact us if you didn't receive it. |
Celebrated on 25 February 🔖 📖 📚
The TENTH annual World Bookmark Day (WOBODA) will be celebrated on 25 February 2026. Go to the Woboda page to see events, winners, and updates. 20 November 2025
The TENTH annual World Bookmark Day (WOBODA) will be celebrated on 25 February 2026. Go to the Woboda page to see events, winners, and updates. 20 November 2025
Bookmarks from the last 10 years of World Bookmark Day
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Printable bookmark designs: 23 designs from four contributors including 6 that spell out WOBODA! ( Go to Woboda page to download).
Raffle donations for 2026. Total 680 bookmarks; 5 entrants. Winner: Michael Taffe, Australia
40 Bookstores, 30 Nature & Science bookmarks from David Friedman, USA 18 Feb 2026
Prize winners: See Woboda page for requirements
Asim Maner Award: Jacek Hałuszkiewicz , Poland Collection Award: tbd We have a theme song! Created by Andrzej Janik, Chojnice, Poland, titled February 25 - Between Then and Now.
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From the archives: Bookmark issued by founder Asim Maner.
Local Events: Chojnice, Poland Polish Bookmark of the Year; UC San Diego exhibit; Logos Bookstore, Davis, CA, USA; Collectors meeting, Spain; book presentation, Vilnius Book Fair, Lithuania See the Woboda page for details.
 Bookmark exhibit at University of California, San Diego, Geisel Library, Jan 10-Mar 17, 2026
"A Trace Between the Pages – Polish Bookmark of the Year 2025”, organized by Jacek Hałuszkiewicz Chojnice, Poland
“POLISH BOOKMARK OF THE YEAR 2025” An event organized by the Asim Maner Bookmark Museum in Chojnice, together with Partners, with online participation of the international community International Friends of Bookmarks, and with the support of representatives of Polish libraries. Awards for thematic bookmark categories and special award categories to be presented January 31, 2025 with ceremonial announcement February 25, 2026. |
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Bookmark Museum Established in Poland
Our member Jacek Hałuszkiewicz from Chojnice, Poland is establishing the first bookmark museum, named in honor of IFOB's founder Asim Maner, with the permission of his family. Jacek has been researching the history of Polish bookmarks, but would like the museum to have bookmarks from all over the world with the help of IFOB members. More information will be provided as the project takes shape. Congratulations, Jacek! 20 Nov 2025 |
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IFOB Received an Award! 🌟 🤩 🌟 🎖️ 16 Dec 2024
Member Jacek Hałuszkiewicz who is a teacher from Poland sent this award IFOB. Here is his description: "Today as part of the next installment of the "Share your passion" event organized by my school, a diploma was awarded for you for supporting your passion. In this case, for raising the idea of collecting or looking for stories related to bookmarks. Passions are something special and the people who share them deserve respect. Warm greetings and CONGRATULATIONS to all."
Many thanks for this creative and fun award. We are honored!
Member Jacek Hałuszkiewicz who is a teacher from Poland sent this award IFOB. Here is his description: "Today as part of the next installment of the "Share your passion" event organized by my school, a diploma was awarded for you for supporting your passion. In this case, for raising the idea of collecting or looking for stories related to bookmarks. Passions are something special and the people who share them deserve respect. Warm greetings and CONGRATULATIONS to all."
Many thanks for this creative and fun award. We are honored!
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Profile of the winners of the Asim Maner Award for World Bookmark Day, 2025: Domènec Martinez Muños and Montserrat Casaponsa. Congratulations!
Asim Maner Award winners for 2025: Domènec Martinez Muñoz and Montserrat Casaponsa
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New editor: Rita Colognola, The Netherlands, has updated the TBS News bibliography (updated 30 Nov 2025), and the general bibliography (updated 30 Dec 2025). Thank you, Rita!
4 Jan 2026 |
More TBS Occasional Papers: Sylvia Bunting, recently retired editor of TBS News and Occasional Papers, has given us permission to make 8 more Occasional Papers available., Nos. 8-16, July 2012-July 2017 (except No. 10 which is not yet available). Thank you Sylvia and The Bookmark Society! 27 January 2025
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Georg Hartong's Bibliography updated 26 September 2024, and the index of TBS News updated 30 Nov 2025.
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TBS Occasional Paper No. 15: Chocolate: Bookmarks in Europe
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Pullout bookmarks to make, illustrating children´s safety education in former East Germany (DDR)
submitted by Helga Moghaddam, 28 April 2023
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A new section, On Marking Books Redux, debuts with an essay on Books and Cards Worth Giving: Paul Elder Bookmarks . 5 April 2024
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Peter Pauper Press featuring artisan, 3-D, metal, beaded, children's bookmarks. 5 Nov 2025
Book Lover hanging metal
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See the range of bookmarks issued for the 1933/1934 Chicago World's Fair from Bill O's collection. 7 April 2021
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Charting the Course of Celluloid Bookmarks by Laine Farley 20 October 2020;
updated 13 March 2021
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A History of Collecting Bookmarks - by Allison C. Meier, in Fine Books and Collections, Autumn 2023
Meier summarizes a brief history of bookmarks and quotes several collectors on their interests and reasons for collecting, including several IFOB members. She concludes: "A bookmark may last longer than the read itself, moving into other books, roving to new libraries, and hiding within the pages until maybe decades later it falls out again into the hand of a new reader, offering a trace of who held this book before." 20 September 2023 
Stuart Hudson's collection focusing on bookstores; photo by Hannah Hudson
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Japanese Antique Bookmarks
Toshio Toyoshima has published a book on antique or vintage Japanese bookmarks from the Meiji period to around the 1950s. Japanese antique bookmarks, which have been little known until now, have a unique view of the world that is quite different from that of the West. 26 Jun 2023 
"Japanese Antique Bookmarks“ 『ニッポンのアンティークしおり』 by Toshio Toyoshima 豊嶋利雄
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Two quotes from Gintautas Deksnys, Lithuania
- quote from the life of the philosopher Voltaire in A. Akimova's book "Voltaire":
"...a straw or a withered leaf between the leaves of the book was the only, albeit debatable, evidence for the compilers of the book that Voltaire read this book in the field or in the garden. By the way, folded corners and scraps of papyrus paper attached to the pages helped them: this is how Voltaire marked where he had stopped reading" (Alisa Akimova "Voltaire", Vilnius: "Vaga", 1984, p. 293).. Submitted 6 April 2024
- quote about the life of the writer Alexander Dumas in Dirk Husemann's "The Paris Novel Factory":
...she was engrossed in a book with four bookmarks sticking out, and he was engrossed in a newspaper. To "Mousquetaire" (Dirk Husemann "Die Romanfabrik von Paris", Köln: Bastei Lübbe AG, 2023, p. 81). (submitted 11 April 2024)
- quote from the life of the philosopher Voltaire in A. Akimova's book "Voltaire":
"...a straw or a withered leaf between the leaves of the book was the only, albeit debatable, evidence for the compilers of the book that Voltaire read this book in the field or in the garden. By the way, folded corners and scraps of papyrus paper attached to the pages helped them: this is how Voltaire marked where he had stopped reading" (Alisa Akimova "Voltaire", Vilnius: "Vaga", 1984, p. 293).. Submitted 6 April 2024
- quote about the life of the writer Alexander Dumas in Dirk Husemann's "The Paris Novel Factory":
...she was engrossed in a book with four bookmarks sticking out, and he was engrossed in a newspaper. To "Mousquetaire" (Dirk Husemann "Die Romanfabrik von Paris", Köln: Bastei Lübbe AG, 2023, p. 81). (submitted 11 April 2024)
Gintautas also submitted his own reflections and quotes 20 May 2024
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The Owl Gallery has several new bookmarks from Olav Claassen, Spain, Dec 2025
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The Countries gallery now has many examples from Poland. 15 January 2025
St. Mary's Church in Krakow and the Wawel tapestries from the Wawel Castle from Jacek Hałuszkiewicz, 14 Jan 2025
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Home CONTACT
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS OF BOOKMARKS (IFOB)
www.ifobookmarks.org I facebook.com/bookmarksfriends | i[email protected]
www.ifobookmarks.org I facebook.com/bookmarksfriends | i[email protected]