By Georg Hartong

​There is apparently a widespread bad habit of marking the place where the reading of a book has stopped, by making a fold in the top corner of a page: making dog-ears. In other languages the same phenomenon has a different name: in Dutch: 'ezelsoor', in German: 'Eselsohr' and in Danish: 'Aeselorer', all meaning 'donkey's ear'. In South-Africa, in the Boeren-language (familiar to Dutch), they name it 'varkore', pig's ear.
How is this called in French, Spanish, Italian and other languages? Does anybody know?  

The second scan a Danish and two Dutch bookmarks; on 'operatie ezelsoor': 'a book is not made of steel' and 'a book is not made of stone'; Bladwijzer means Bookmark; the remaining text: 'donkey's ears are ears that do not belong in books; even closed you keep seeing the book; donkey's ears spoil the beauty of a book; can you promise never to make donkey's ears again, Hi-a? ​

The third scan shows an English bookmark, a South-African one and a shaped one. ​

As you can see from the listing on our Events page, there are many book fairs all over the world.  They provide an opportunity for readers, writers, publishers and related organizations to be immersed in books, ephemera, and even art and music.  And, of course, they are great places to find free bookmarks.  Here are two reports on recent book fairs in Vilnius, Lithuania and Oakland, California, USA.

​As you can see, where you can buy fiction books, there are many people. Sometimes books are cheaper at the book fair, but sometimes it's just 2 euros or less. Also you can ask for writers’ autographs. Science fiction books are not so interesting, but also sometimes there are many people. 

​Also you can get bookmarks. This year I found about 100 new bookmarks.

In the music hall there are so many young people, who want to have photos with their idols. ​My idol is Andrius Mamontovas. He is one of the best musicians and has been singing more than 30 years. He is really famous in Lithuania. 

​8 kambarys is a group who sing rap/hip-hop. They are very nice people.

Of course, there were free bookmarks to acquire such as these from book dealers. 

​A curated exhibit of first edition books by L. Frank Baum and the subsequent authors of the "Wizard of Oz" series, courtesy of Joel Harris, a local member of the International Wizard of Oz Club, was complemented by a lecture from a librarian from the University of California, Berkeley, Peter Hanff.  He talked about the publication of the Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, based on his extensive collection of books and printing ephemera.  He also gave attendees a special keepsake postcard—but it could be used as a bookmark too!

​Even if you are not a collector of rare or antiquarian books, it can be worthwhile to attend this type of book fair to see the  history of books and variety of interests among dealers and collectors.  

Check our Events page section on book fairs to locate one near you.  Many are held on a regular basis.  And let us know if there are others we should add to the list.