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Editor's Note: Vilija has been a supporter of IFOB and especially World Bookmark Day for a number of years. The activities she organizes for her local library are always creative and fun for the children especially. She also makes bookmarks and has other interesting collections and activities. Congratulations, Vilija!. 1. Tell us about yourself – where you are from, your occupation, etc.
My events are for my area. The most famous is "Poetry in blooming gardens" where we read poetry and play music while the 140-hectare apple orchard is in full bloom.
Another, no less famous, is Walpurgis night on Shatrija mountain. On that night, according to legend, witches fly to the mountain. "I fly" and I am a witch, because I am there.
2. How did you start collecting bookmarks? Do you remember your first bookmark? Since my work is related to books, bookmarks were always there. I don't remember the first one. Once I saw an advertisement for a girl's bookmark exhibition, and I thought that I also need to collect what I have. I collected from all the books and a lot appeared in the drawers. That’s how the first exhibition was born. 3. Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection?
5. How do you acquire your bookmarks?
 Vilija's handmade bookmarks. 6. How many bookmarks do you have (an estimate)?  There are about 2,500 book marks in the collection and over 200 handmade ones. 7. How do you organize, display and store your collection? I keep my regular bookmarks in binders, organized by country, in clear document pockets. I mark the contents with a special soldering iron so that the bookmarks do not fall on top of each other. In the binders, each part begins with notes. Unfortunately, it is difficult to see how I solder the places of the marks. It's quite a big job, so there is still a big pile of marks received this year waiting for their order. And the handmade ones are still in the box. They are of very different shapes, made of different materials, so it is difficult to keep them in binders, and I often want to show them to others, so I haven't thought of another way to organize them yet.
8. What has been your experience in using the IFOB Swap List? This is a very good place for like-minded people to meet, that there is a list and we can find each other and who wants to exchange bookmarks. I do that too, but not very often. 9. What do you enjoy about IFOB? Anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future?
10. What did you do to celebrate World Bookmark Day this year? Kaunatava Library marks this day every year with events, educations, bookmark exhibitions. This year we held book mark workshops, I prepared an exhibition and presented a video of photos of book marks and covers that I drew called "Book Dress".  11. Do you collect anything else? Yes, quite by accident, little by little, souvenir hedgehogs started to "come" to the house, and that's how 484 of them accumulated in a few years. I even had to make a separate shelf for them. And it started quite unexpectedly - I got lost on a trip and the name hedgehog in the fog stuck, based on Sergej Kozlov's book "Hedgehog in the Fog".  Part of Vilija's hedgehog collection. And I still have quite a few cups for tea with poppies, so now the dishes decorated with poppies are my favorites. But I don't know if it can be called a collection. My family eats from these dishes, I serve my guests in them and I happily drink my morning coffee myself, After all, you can choose a different cup decorated with poppies.
12. Do you have any advice for those who are just beginning to collect bookmarks? Maybe if I just started collecting bookmarks now, I would choose one area according to the topic, production method, specialty or hobby. Bookmarks are endless and it can't end... how to set a limit or have a goal for how many to collect. After all, you can't have all the bookmarks in the world, but if you think you can, I will help you as much as I can! 13. Anything else you would like to share? I would like to be glad that I was able to get involved in joint activities and participate in IFOB events, sharing bookmarks with the whole world. Until then, I only collected on my own. Thanks to this page I got to know collectors not only from other countries, but also from my own country. Lithuania is a very small country, and I live in a small village in a small country, but now I am open to make my country known to the whole world through bookmarks.
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By Gintautas Deksnys
  Gintautas Deksnys Bookmark Collection, Lithuanian Army  Gintautas Deksnys Bookmark Collection, Lithuanian Army  Gintautas Deksnys Bookmark Collection, Lithuanian Air Force Here is another example from my collection on the theme of States and Cities.  And here is a personal bookmark from a banquet I hosted where the bookmark served as a guest card.
by Laine Farley A special interest in my bookmark collection is for those that serve the dual purpose of greeting cards. As the greeting card industry developed, it was natural for similar themes and designs to be used for bookmarks. By far, the most common occasion was Christmas bookmarks, often with a calendar for the new year included, with Easter and Valentine bookmarks following not far behind. Halloween bookmarks, however, are rare. Their scarcity reflects the relatively short period when Halloween greeting cards were produced. The book The Romance of Greeting Cards, edited by edited by James D. Chamberlain, University Press of Cambridge, 1956, devotes a very short chapter to Halloween cards, noting on p. 109: Hallowe’en cards came into being in 1908 at the beginning of the new era in cards and they sold fairly well until the thirties when the sending of cards for the occasion went into a decline from which it has never fully recovered. From the beginning, the card designs were built around ghosts, witches, black cats, scarecrows, jack-o-lanterns, bats, and wishes for good luck and safety from all harm were the common verse themes. Bright yellow was the dominant color, with black, emblematical of the night and artistically effective, too, as its traveling companion and complement. Examples of the first cards are few. The earliest Hallowe’en greeting the author has traced was a yellow paper card with a solid black background on which appeared the faint outline of a black cat and white-faced witch and the following doggerel rhyme: The earliest ones in my collection are undated but probably from the 1920s-1930s based on the design.
Recently, I acquired a set of reproductions with graphics that appear to be from the same time period. These examples are small and a bit fuzzy, but one has a verse as follows:  When the Owl & Witch to gather are seen, There’s mischief brewing on Halloween. Although more recent examples typically do not have verses or greetings, they do carry lively (or deadly?) graphics for the season. Some publishers feature Halloween related titles or images as well.
The back of this bookmark has a place for children (or even adults) to record their Halloween activities, thereby increasing the chance that the bookmark will be saved. Of course, nowadays it is easy to find Halloween bookmarks. They feature the usual themes of witches, ghosts, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, cats, bats and scarecrows, as well as literary and movie themes. It is possible to find those with vintage graphics, and even a few with actual greetings, although they mostly just have a wish for a Happy Halloween. Besides ready-made designs, there are also printables including those that can be colored, and examples such as this one for making foldable corners. Anyone can make clever bookmarks with some stiff colored paper (or even old file folders) adorned with stamps and stickers, as these from an office party with the theme “Spooky Books” illustrate.  Sending Halloween bookmarks as greeting cards is a practice that will probably not be resurrected. They still can be used for trick or treaters, parties, and decorations (one suggestion was to put them in potted plants). However they are used, they will continue to appeal to collectors who like to reflect the range of holidays and celebrations from this time of year.
Editor's Note: Man Wong is one of the few IFOB members who has published a book about bookmarks. What stands out in her activities described below is her desire to spread the word about bookmarks and to preserve them for the future. She links her love of bookmarks to their ability to document her life and record her memories. Congratulations Man! 1. Tell us about yourself – where you are from, your occupation, etc.
2. How did you start collecting bookmarks? Do you remember your first bookmark? The first set of bookmarks I collected came from my dad. I remember that when I was a child, my father often had to work, and once he went to the mainland for business. He saw some bookmarks decorated with dried leaves and butterflies on China Civil Aviation, and thought they looked good. He brought them home for me. On the dry leaves, the veins of the leaves were clearly textured, and the butterfly pattern on it was lifelike. I thought it was very beautiful, and I started collecting bookmarks from then on.
3. Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection? I specially treasure those bookmarks with my favorite idols. One is the famous singer Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing and the other one is the artist Andy Lau Tak Wah. When I was still in secondary school, I couldn’t afford to buy many bookmarks and so I could only select two or three from the full set. It’s a pity that I can't collect a full set.
4. What is the most unusual bookmark in your collection? In my collection, there is are a set of bookmarks that are presented as Dinosaur bones stacked layer by layer which I bought through a Dinosaur exhibition held in Hong Kong. And the traditional Chinese paper-cut A Dream of the Red Mansions Character bookmarks which was also first bought by my dad. These two sets show a different presentation from the traditional paper cut to modern cut with specific design. It’s not common to find out about other bookmark creations nowadays.  Dream of the Red Mansions paper cut bookmarks 5. How do you acquire your bookmarks? On campus, teachers will give away bookmarks with words of encouragement, students will send bookmarks on their birthdays, and between male and female students, they will send messages with bookmarks. There are also friends from the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Japan and other places who have exchanged duplicate bookmarks for mutual benefit. In Hong Kong, where space is limited, it may be a luxury to collect things. Hong Kong fans tend to hand over bookmarks. Instead of sending them to landfills to bury their memories, they always hope that someone who has a heart will keep them on their behalf. Sometimes I had to pursue the bookmarks I wanted. The Asian TV series "Blue Moon" once published a game with prizes in the newspaper. The gift was a bookmark. Of course, I immediately sent a letter to participate, and I applied for a full set.  Asian TV series "Blue Moon" bookmarks However, sometimes unexpected gifts will fall from the sky. One day I noticed on the recycling box that there was a stack of bookmark-shaped objects above! I found that the bookmarks were still fresh and clean, and immediately took them home like a treasure. So sometimes I feel like something is meant to be, so I can take it home so it doesn't end up in a landfill. I found out that government departments and some institutions will launch relevant publicity bookmarks to remind everyone to respond to crises, such as teaching everyone how to deal with natural disasters. Changes in Hong Kong can also be discovered through bookmarks. For example, I have some bookmarks published by the Lands Department in my collection, and I will see some small changes in the landscape. Or there are the earlier logos of the Urban Council in the bookmarks, which the younger generation may not have seen already. Sometimes I go to the second-hand market to find relics, but the price of bookmarks is very erratic. As for the selection criteria, if it can give me the feeling of 'electric shock', I will buy it even if it is expensive. 6. How many bookmarks do you have (an estimate)? One day in 2009, I suddenly became obsessed with counting the bookmark stock, and I thought I had stored more than 1,000 bookmarks and was proud of it. Suddenly, I wanted to apply to Guinness World Records to be the person with the most bookmarks, so I checked it out. It was discovered that in another country in the world, someone had already achieved this record, and it was more than 100,000 copies! I decided to look for someone by the name of Frank Divendal. After a lot of searching on the Internet, I finally found a website with regularly updated collections and a bookmark exchange platform, which is where I got his email. In the end, I managed to get in touch with Frank Divendal, the Guinness world record holder in the Netherlands, who was more than willing to exchange duplicate bookmarks with me and became my strongest bookmarking friend. [Note: see this interview for more information on correspondence with Frank Divendal] I checked the records, and in 2017 he had 160,000 copies in stock. As for me, there are about 3,000 or 4,000 copies. Although I have doubled it, I am still far behind him. But for me, collecting bookmarks is not only about quantity, but also about quality. It is a record of every stage of my life. 7. How do you organize, display and store your collection? To classify, it is necessary to have an outline. There are few collection books in Hong Kong that can be used for reference. It is neither a stationery series, nor a paper art series, nor a Hong Kong feeling series... I tried to search in different ways, but still It was difficult to start, until I saw Appreciation of Chinese Bookmark, which helped me make a systematic classification, and this book became one of my collections.  Appreciation of Chinese Bookmark My bookmark classification may not be completely in line with the system, but it must be divided according to my preferences, because I think the most important meaning of collection is to store memories and thoughts, such as my Facebook page: Bookmarks and Memory, to commemorate the reason why bookmarks exist. It is because of their functionality, which is convenient for people to read, and also has the meaning of communication between the two. That I also named my Instagram account after this. Having saved bookmarks for decades, I am not the only "Bookmark Collector" in Hong Kong, but I believe that I will keep my passion and remain eager to keep collecting to save bookmarks. In March 2021, I first published my book related to my bookmark collections and stories.  Bookmark Collection: A Page of Life, Hong Kong and the World Then from 24 Apr - 24 May 2021, I held the first “Hong Kong Bookmark Exhibition” in Silver Café in Mong Kok to share my collection with the public and memories about the bookmark in Hong Kong
I held a Bookmark exhibition at the 31st Hong Kong Book Fair, 15 July 2021, and hosted a seminar to share my bookmark collection history and insight:. Hong Kong Book Fair 2021: Bookmark Collection Notes - A Page of Life, Hong Kong and the World After collecting bookmarks for so many years, I really hope that there is a place to show everyone, so that everyone can know that bookmarks can actually be very colorful. 8. What has been your experience in using the IFOB Swap List? The swap list is really useful and brought me to know other fellow collectors from other countries. IFOB Members are nice to invite for swapping bookmarks. I really appreciate this and enjoy this journey. 9. What do you enjoy about IFOB? Anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future? From IFOB, I gain a lot of valuable information related to bookmark collecting, such as bookmark history, culture and activities in each country. I am impressed by members’ passion and effort towards bookmark collecting. These also inspired me to improve my collection by taking reference from them, such as how IFOB members store their bookmarks, how they classify into different levels or categories. 10. What did you do to celebrate World Bookmark Day this year? I designed a bookmark and brief video to introduce for the 6th World Bookmark Day, through Extraordinary Publications via Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. This designated bookmark will be treated as a gift with each purchase by an online bookstore with a limited quota. I also contributed to IFOB for World Bookmark Day a free printable bookmark designed by the illustrator Bella Chan, Instagram: @_bea.aaaa. This is a digital painting based on a Sunset photo taken at Cheung Chau, Hong Kong.  Finally, I arranged a live chat to further celebrate the event and chat with anyone who is interested in the bookmarks collection, and promote this interest in Hong Kong. And I hope to raise more awareness to support this activity in the future. 11. Do you collect anything else? I used to collect the McDonald’s Toys in the past, however, I didn’t collect them for long. Puzzles is another good leisure game. It makes me relax and focus on solving puzzles. But I didn’t collect much as there was limited space, so I only kept those with special designs and with high difficulties. 12. Do you have any advice for those who are just beginning to collect bookmarks? I would say that when you start to collect bookmarks, record if there is any story about the bookmark, no matter if it's a gift from friends, a souvenir from a tour, or picked up from any exhibition or bookstore. When there is a story embedded into the bookmark, it seems to grant them life. See "Bookmark Collection Notes": Today, why do we still need bookmarks?" from Orange News for more about Man's collection and a video where she shows more of her collection (text can be translated but not video).  Editor's Note: For World Bookmark Day 2022, we created a new Collection Award to recognize an outstanding collection based on the subject of the collection or the format of materials, whether the collection has been recognized by other organizations, or whether the owner has written about it or promoted it in some other way. The criteria to be considered include:
While I collect any bookmarks in general on a casual basis, I have a very specialized collection of Book Depository bookmarks. I am very passionate about this collection, and in fact I manage a dedicated Facebook page as well as a dedicated Instagram account. As to why I started specializing in these bookmarks, at first it was just random collecting, but once I started getting close to completing sets, my collector's instinct kicked in and I just wanted to collect as many as possible. Apart from that, I truly liked the designs, especially of the earlier releases. It might sound a bit silly but I also really like double-sided bookmarks, rather than ones with a blank white back. And perhaps more pertinently I enjoy the fact that it is a documented series, with finite sets to collect. As opposed to collecting bookmarks in general, where one can just simply buy readily available sets online - you can virtually never stop collecting those. Collection Details With regard to my collection, I now have 199 unique Book Depository bookmarks at the time of writing, going back to 2009 so spanning over a decade. I have fully completed 22 our of 25 known individual sets across these years. The incomplete sets include some of the older ones, namely the My Bookmark Competition set of 2010 (13/20), the Useful Bookmarks set of 2011 (8/14), and the Factmarks set of 2012 (12/14). Needless to say I'd love to complete these sets one day! Apart from these sets, Book Depository sometimes issues single releases, i.e. standalone bookmarks not part of a set. I have tracked down 13 of these (in my Singles album) - the issue here is that sometimes there are special bookmarks distributed at book fairs around the world, and these are not announced on the Book Depository website/social media like the sets are. Therefore, there is no way of knowing how many have been released of these. Personally I have ones from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Argentina, but I have seen other countries too. By way of an anecdote of sorts, there was also a 'Golden Bookmark' campaign once - including limited edition bronze, silver and golden bookmarks - but for the life of me I never managed to find any further info or actual photos of these elusive bookmarks.  I have also been in touch with the designers of some of the bookmarks, and managed to obtain signed or even coloured-in copies. Below I am attaching a photo of bookmarks signed by novelist Jasper Fforde (who designed four bookmarks of the 2009 set), and a colouring bookmark signed and coloured-in by its designer Elina Gor (from the second Colouring Bookmark set of 2016).  Autographed 2009 set by novelist Jasper Fforde   Coloring bookmark by Elina Gor Recently, I have also had the pleasure of liaising with another designer of one of the bookmarks, Mr Richard Nicholls, who very kindly sent me some signed bookmarks of his:
I have also been in touch with the actual founders of the Book Depository who started the publication of these bookmarks, and who have expressed their delight at seeing the joy these bookmarks were still bringing people (screenshot attached below).  Ms Kate Felton, the wife of one of the Book Depository's co-founders, sent me the below at Christmas time - one of the very first (if not the first) Book Depository bookmarks!  One of the first Book Depository bookmarks Sharing the Collection Facebook Page On my Facebook page, which now has around 1000 followers, I display all my collection in distinct photo albums according to sets. I also feature photos of mail calls I receive from fellow bookmark collectors whenever I swap bookmarks. I also provide information whenever Book Depository host any contests, competitions, sales or bookmark releases. The page serves as a community hub for fellow bookmark lovers to arrange swaps among themselves as well. It has been a pleasure watching the page grow and I look forward to nurture it further! Instagram On my Instagram account, which now has over 2000 followers, I opted for a more minimalist look - I upload photos of all my bookmarks against a black backdrop, with information on each and every bookmark once expanded. This way viewers can easily see all the bookmarks at a glance, with further details available should they wish to know which set it belongs to, year of publication, etc. This account has also served to set up bookmark swaps with other collectors from all over the world. More recently, starting in 2021, I have also been sharing the books I read with my followers, accompanied by a bookmark 'throwback' of sorts. This has allowed me to keep both social media more active, rather than waiting for new sets to be released by Book Depository. I share these posts on both Facebook and Instagram accounts, and include information both on the book and on the bookmark (plus a subjective rating for the book out of 5 stars). As I average one book per week, it helps both communities to remain active.  Managing the Collection I store my collection in a binder, using custom transparent sleeves to hold 4 bookmarks per page. I have a video showcasing the collection available below - this was back in 2019 so the collection grew significantly since then; I hope to upload an updated video some time soon. I have reason to believe that I have the largest collection of Book Depository bookmarks in the world - perhaps not a monumental feat but one of which I am immensely proud! By Laine Farley Although there are many articles that catalog the random objects people use for bookmarks, these items are not always similar to “official” bookmarks in size, shape, or appropriate material. Accidental bookmarks are those that were not meant to be used for that purpose, but do fit the criteria and may be hiding in plain sight. Of course, this begs the question, “What is a bookmark?” It must be of a reasonable size to fit in books, but that can range from small ones for paperbacks up to very large ones for bibles, oversized art books, etc. It should be longer than it is wide, but the the proportions can vary. And it ought to be suitably thin so as not to bend the pages or risk falling out. I think accidental bookmarks should also have a design that takes advantage of the dimensions, either the horizontal or vertical plane, and they should not be of a material that could damage a book, unlike some of the official ones that sacrifice utility for design impact. Here are some examples of accidental bookmarks that I have found, usually without consciously looking for them. While I was focused on some other task, the proportions and designs of these images suddenly resolved into looking like a good bookmark. Ads in Publications These examples can be downloaded, clipped, or even photographed from online images and printed on photographic or stiff paper. City Directories I use city directories frequently for genealogy and local history research. These now obsolete publications are filled with long and narrow ads, designed to fit above and alongside of the directory entries. Most of them are nondescript, with only the name of the business, an address and phone number. Occasionally, they will contain an interesting graphic, which can be clipped from the online image and printed on stiff paper for a bookmark. This example is for a small chain of pharmacies that used to be known for their owl logo.  Husted's Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley directory, 1908  Newspapers Similarly, old newspaper ads can often have the right dimensions and feature interesting graphics. These examples from my local newspaper feature a clothing shop that I was researching because of its Art Deco building, and I came cross another ad for fall frocks and hats with nice graphics. The Halloween example is an ornament that accompanied a feature for children. The last example is from a small town newspaper where my relatives lived, and is interesting due to the period graphics as well as the family association. I keep hoping to find an interesting ad for the business that my family owned in this town, but so far, they are just ordinary ads.
Yearbooks and Catalogs These publications may have ads or ornaments, although they are not as reliable for finding appropriate dimensions. The example for Oakland features two transportation designs that would be interesting for a double sided bookmark. The cap and gown motif is from my grandmother’s college yearbook.  Original ad, source unknown but possibly a city promotional publication
 Horned Frog yearbook, Texas Christian University, 1909 Postage Stamps Recent postage stamp sheets for artists provided an extra benefit. The perforations on the sheets made it possible to tear off the portrait of the artist or an enlarged artwork on the side panel. These bookmarks would be even more interesting if the post office had printed additional information on the reverse. This presentation may not be common, but it is a reminder to look closely for bookmark possibilities in any kind of graphic material.  Ellsworth Kelly stamps, United States Postal Service  Ruth Asawa stamps, United States Postal Service Now I am always on the lookout for interesting graphics in bookmark shapes. Where have you found accidental bookmarks?
by Rita Colognola “Michael Kalil (1943-1991) was an educator, interior residential and commercial architect, philosopher and artist. As the Principal of Kalil Studio (1981-1991), he was known for his innovative work with technology and materials, most notably for developing an award winning automated office space for Armstrong World Industries, and for creating a Space Station habitation module prototype for NASA (1983-1986).”(1). He “was known for his abstract designs, spoke of himself as a "space engineer" and was constantly experimenting with space. ... His work has been exhibited at a number of museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum.”(2), In 2001 the "Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design" was established in his memory at the School of Constructed Environments (SCE).
Pictures will describe better than any word this beautiful, attractive set.
(1) Jen Larson, Michael Kalil, An Introduction (2) Joan Cook, Michael Kalil, 47, An Innovator as an Abstract Interior Designer, obituary published in the New York Times, July 4, 1991 Editor's Note: A few short articles advertise the bookmarks as stylish reading accessories. This article does not have photos but reveals that Kalil also designed another intersesting bookmark: Darlyn Brewer. “Helpful Hardware: Metal Bookmarks.” The New York Times. New York, N.Y: New York Times Company, 1985, Late Edition (East Coast) edition. The Museum of Modern Art sells a set of three satin-finished brass bookmarks. Designed by Michael Kalil exclusively for the museum, each is round with decorative cutouts and measures two inches in diameter. The set costs $17.50. Also designed by Mr. Kalil is a sterling silver bookmark. For $40, it comes packaged in a black pouch made of Japanese rice paper, which is designed by Morishima Hiroshi. The bookmark is two inches in diameter and the pouch measures approximately 3 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches. The museum store is at 11 West 53d Street. Museum members get a discount.  “Tools for Living.” Harper’s (New York, N.Y.) 252, no. 1508 (1976): 88 This article simply says that the three bookmarks are available for $17.50 from the MOMA store.  Carol Lawson. “Small Luxuries Make a Difference.” New York Times (1923-). New York, N.Y: New York Times Company, 10 April 1986, p. C12.
Editor's Note: A longtime collector, Sylvia was one of the first members of IFOB. She is the membership secretary as well as the excellent editor of The Bookmark Society News. As a true friend of bookmarks, Sylvia often connects people seeking to donate or rehome a collection with other collectors in England. She also arranged to have back issues of the first seven TBS Occasional Papers available for download from our Bibliography page. Tell us about yourself – where you are from, your occupation, etc.
How did you start collecting bookmarks? Do you remember your first bookmark?
 Bristol board bookmark from Sylvia Bunting's collection Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection? Probably my favourite bookmark medium is printed card, since the information given can shed intriguing light on distant scenes. I did not know until I bought a Renault Clarital bookmark that in the 30’s Renault produced planes as well as cars, and one of my favourite Day & Son multiple bookmarks told me that with the benefits of Sunlight soap, even a lady of advancing years could manage the weekly wash – a sentiment which helped me understand Victorian domestic life. Promotional bookmarks are perhaps my favourite, but I also like those from voluntary organisations, and advisory bookmarks for health, home safety and similar topics.
What is the most unusual bookmark in your collection? This is also the oldest bookmark in my collection. It is a carved piece of bone (scrimshaw work, often produced by the crews of whaling ships). This bookmark is thought to have been produced during the Napoleonic wars by French prisoners of war incarcerated in one of the prisons on the south coast. It is known that these prisoners made what handicrafts they could and sold them to local people to raise a little money. There is no official provenance, but Derek Greengrass, a noted expert on antique ivory, has stated that it is of the right period and the right material, not ivory but bone which the prisoners could have liberated from the meat carcasses supplied to them. It is clearly the creation of someone who had ample time to give attention to delicate, detailed work.
How do you acquire your bookmarks? That depends on the age! For vintage bookmarks, the best source is antiquarian book dealers, as fine specimens still come to light in old books. But that is a dwindling supply, and I usually search bookmarks out on ebay. For modern bookmarks I depend on my friends – there are several who visit local shops and libraries when they are on holiday, and they bring me an envelope full from time to time. And, of course, there is exchange with fellow collectors, particularly at swapmeets where people bring sales folders and boxes of free swaps. How many bookmarks do you have? My database tells me that as of today I have 21,239. I would never have kept count, but I was fortunate that when I started collecting I had a word processor, so could keep a list of what I acquired. When computers arrived in the 90s, I transferred the information gradually to an Access database, and am reaping the benefit. Of these, around 7,000 are promotional, which includes 2,500+ from publishers, 1500 from booksellers, 800 from banks and insurance, and 500+ from libraries. The other two large categories are Advisory (1,450) and not-for-profit Organisations (3,500). How do you organize, display and store your collection? My bookmarks are divided into categories according to purpose:
Most are stored in filing cabinets with shallow drawers, which I have divided up with cardboard partitions. This gives me the freedom to lift out the ones I want and spread them together on a table to trace their relationship to each other.
I display very little of my collection, partly because I have never found a reliable way of mounting them in frames without spoiling the bookmark. When speaking to voluntary groups about bookmark collecting, I choose a few interesting ones and put them into plastic pages in a loose-leaf binder, and project images via powerpoint. I am working towards photographing every bookmark – a slow job, but I am more than halfway there. I suppose the best place to see my bookmarks, along with those of other collectors, is in our journal, The Bookmark Society News.  Bookmarks from Sylvia Bunting's collection in storage cabinet drawers Your work with The Bookmark Society is such a significant contribution to promoting bookmarks. Tell us about your experience editing TBS News. How do you select articles? I have been fortunate that just as I took over editing, computers developed to the point where it was possible to present coloured images of reasonable quality. This has been one of the big progressions – we started with mainly black and white, but have moved on to the point where most pages now include some colour. After all, what collectors want most is to see the bookmarks. People are pleased to see something they own, grateful to see something they don’t yet have, and absolutely delighted when they can tell me of a bookmark they own which is not in the public listing. Articles come from members. Some are offered, and we have several members in different countries who are regular contributors, on subjects ranging from petrol to Red Riding Hood. Also, when people write to me they often mention a quirk of their collection, and I can then bounce back and ask if they will put something together for the journal. Members with special interests sometimes put together listings of a particular subject, such as Colin Williamson and Tauchnitz.  TBS News, March 2018 We have had a few mini-series; one called In a Flap which featured unusual page flaps. The most memorable was a flap shaped like a toilet seat. We are currently running a Hand Made series, which has featured Bristol board, eucalyptus leaves and original paintings. We also have a regular swaplist prepared by one member who puts in an enormous amount of work behind the scenes, listing and despatching the bookmarks.  TBS News, July 2021 One feature which has developed slowly but steadily is the Letters Page, where members can ask a question (is this the largest bookmark ever known?) or showcase an interesting bookmark they have just found (had you heard of the Nebra Sky Disk in Germany?). Sometimes this starts as a private letter to me, but I then ask permission to publish it. So far I don’t think anyone has stopped writing to me on that account, but I sometimes wonder if they feel it is rather hazardous. There is normally space for me to add one or two articles, featuring sets or themes from my own collection. In each issue I try to have a balance of modern and vintage bookmarks, and to cover a range of interests. When lockdown began we had an article on bookmarks featuring all the things we could no longer do (theatres, travel, sport…) which evoked a few responses from people who found their collections were a good jumping-off point for happy reminiscence. Once or twice a year a larger theme emerges and becomes an occasional paper in its own right. I usually have time to advertise the theme and invite scans from other people’s collections, and in this way we have covered drinks (3 papers – people consume a lot of drink one way and another), chocolate, World War I and calendars. {Note that a list of Occasional Papers is on our Bibliography page, plus pdfs of the first seven issues]  Occasional Paper on Soft Drinks, The Bookmark Society For me, editing the journal brings life to my own collection, and is an excellent springboard for ongoing discussion with other members. What do you enjoy about IFOB? Anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future? I think IFOB is an excellent way of bringing together collectors who could otherwise be quite isolated, and it is very good to have an ongoing presence on the web. Do you have any plans to celebrate World Bookmark Day next time? I am saving bookmarks to contribute to the prize for the raffle. Do you collect anything else? It would be difficult to find time or space for a further collection, but my husband collects model railways. This is a very helpful as we each have an understanding of a collector’s mindset. Do you have any advice for those who are just beginning to collect? If at all possible, keep a record of each bookmark you acquire. You may think you will remember everything, but you won’t! Useful bits of information are the date you obtained it, the cost, and the person/organisation from whom it came. Other details depend on your particular interests – e.g. is it bilingual, does it feature a lighthouse, is it made of a particular material? And never turn anything away. The friend who brings you a commonplace bookmark today may turn up with something rare next month, once they have grasped your consuming interest in these apparently trivial items.  Selection of Olympics bookmarks from Sylvia Bunting's collection
After we contacted his daughter, Tama Baldwin, about the award, she sent this reply: I can't tell you how pleased my sisters and I are to learn that you are honoring Don's contributions to bookmark collecting. He would have been so thrilled. I also should thank you for the beautiful remembrance you wrote about him in 2016 that I somehow missed until just a week ago when I was exploring the links you shared. That was such a beautiful testimony. I know that would have thrilled him as well. My sisters and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. The precision of your observations was especially valuable as you bore witness to a part of his life we didn't really know a lot about. Please do keep us informed about his award. We are honored to accept it on his behalf. We have sent the certificate to Tama to share with her sisters. We have also sent a copy along with this article to the University of Iowa Library where Don’s collection resides with his notes and research. One of the librarians said, “Thanks so much for reaching out to us. I've been lucky enough to see Don's collection of bookmarks, and it's such a great collection. I think it wonderful that he be remembered with this award.” Those of us not able to see the collection in person can only imagine the richness of his careful curation and the rarities that are at least well protected and preserved in Iowa.  Normally, we would interview the award winner and create a member profile. Although we can no longer hear from Don directly, we are fortunate that there are traces of his collection and his voice that we can bring together. Just recently, I came across another reminder of Don’s character. In 2009 correspondence with Lauren Roberts (IFOB member, collector and editor of the former BiblioBuffet site that featured a column on bookmarks), Don sent her copies of some bookmarks he had made recently.
Typical of him, he said, “Note that one of the early bookmarks is small and has no cover. It also has an identity which shows I was developing some pride in my results. That’s a practice I have since dropped.” Generous with his homemade bookmarks as well as praise for BiblioBuffet, he was also practical and humble in his efforts to feature his collection.
Don was especially interested in categorizing bookmarks by the type of blade or page flap. He developed a language for these, and experimented with different ways of grouping them, which he talked about in the virtual convention. Along with his presentation on organizing bookmarks by physical characteristics, Don contributed examples to the galleries for the 2010 Bookmark Collectors Virtual Convention, such as these listed in the gallery on series .
 Bookmarks with open, long page clips There is also an article about the exhibit of his collection at the Iowa City Public Library in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, 11 July 2011, p. 3 by Josh O’Leary, unfortunately behind a paywall.
All of these views into Don’s collecting interests and practices remind us how devoted he was to his hobby, and serve as a model for other collectors. We are honored to bestow the Asim Maner Award for 2021 on Don M. Baldwin, 1927 – 2013.
Editor's Note: Vilija has been a great contributor and supporter of IFOB and now we can see why. Her creativity and love of bookmarks is evident in these examples and her story about making bookmarks.
And since I really like handicrafts, I am learning new technologies. The bookmarks are also very diverse: painted on fabric, from gift ribbons, metal, with natural dried flowers, with silk tassels and pendants. Beaded pendants, holiday shells, burnt glass pendants or clay molded with fragrant oils. (After all, the very first scripture is about scents, when the scent plant was wrapped in a piece of material for fear of forgetting important events).
But no matter how sophisticated they may be, they all carry out the same mission - giving the work being read even more charm, helping us to remember where we read and returning to the story being read, and increasingly bookmarks are becoming works of art. Vilija Jocienė Telšių r. Lithuania  |
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