By ​Gintautas Deksnys

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.

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.   

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:

• How substantial the collection is, whether in number and/or completeness
• How extensive is the description and documentation of the collection
• Whether there are publications, presentations, exhibits, or internet/social media activities to provoke recognition and reactions

The first winner, Jonathan Xuereb from Malta, exemplifies all of these attributes and more.  He describes the focus of his collection and how he is managing, promoting and sharing it. Congratulations, Jonathan!

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). ​

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!

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! 

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?​

After we contacted his daughter, Tama Baldwin, about the award, she sent this reply:

​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.  

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 .

Don posted a number of his bookmarks to Flickr and organized them into categories .

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: Randy has some great tips for beginning collectors as well as on storing collections.  We hope he will showcase his collection in an exhibit or online in the future. 

​I can’t remember exactly when I first started collecting bookmarks. However, I have been accumulating bookmarks for quite a long time – off and on for probably over 35 years. Being employed in the book trade my entire working life, I suppose that collecting bookmarks was a natural hobby to adopt and explore. And, as an avid reader and book collector, I also found bookmarks interesting items of associated ephemera. Of course, early on, I had no idea that I would become so involved in this area of collecting!

While working at Indigo books I had constant access to hundreds of free publisher promotional bookmarks, although I didn’t always take full advantage of this fact. I also found many bookmarks hidden and left behind inside of used books that I purchased over the years. More recently, I have also purchased a few of bookmarks from sellers on e-bay. And I also sent letters to used bookstores across Canada soliciting a copy of their own promotional bookmark, along with any other paper bookmarks they may have accumulated. This strategy worked quite well as I have had a response rate of about 15%. Many of these bookstore owners are quite happy to have the bookmarks they have accumulated over the years go to a worthy cause! Just recently I received over 500 bookmarks from a used bookstore owner in Ottawa. They had been saving all of these bookmarks for many years and couldn’t bring themselves to throw them away! Finally, of course, I have also used the IFOB swap list quite often over the past 6 years.

​I have slightly more than 6,000 bookmarks sorted and filed in about 20 binders, with approximately 1,000 more duplicates and other assorted bookmarks to trade.

​I struggled for a long time to find the best way to effectively store my bookmark collection. As a result, they remained unsorted and were stored in shoe boxes for many years. I eventually came up with a great solution when I discovered the double sided “Vario” plastic sleeves, manufactured by Lighthouse, available at a local coin and stamp dealer. {also online, for example] I utilize two sizes of these plastic sheets which are inserted into 3 ring binders, with either 3, 4, 5 or 6 pockets per page. These sleeves now accommodate the majority of my bookmark collection. I also have about 200 oversized bookmarks that do not fit into either of these sizes and so still remain stored in boxes! I don’t display any of my bookmarks - but I have recently been thinking of contacting my local library to see if they might be interested in doing a display of some of the highlights from my collection. And I would also like to post my bookmark collection on-line in the near future.

​I have contributed to the Bookmark Swap event for the past three years and will probably continue to participate in this annual event.

​I collect first edition books, autographed by the author where possible, as well as vintage real-photo postcards. I also haphazardly collect many other forms of vintage paper ephemera such as vintage catalogues, pamphlets and other kinds of old advertising materials.

​I am the co-author of a local history book on early lumbering in Ottawa and in the Algonquin Park area of northern Ontario, titled When Giants Fall: The Gilmour Quest for Algonquin Pine. The revised 3rd edition of our book is being released in 3 to 4 months.

Editor's note: Clemens was member #5 of IFOB in 2015. He has interesting approaches to his collection specialties and ways of showcasing his collection. 

Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection?

The main collecting track I follow goes to bookmarks representing towns or countries with respect to motive, material, or manufacturing technique. A big point here is made of course by bookmarks showing reproductions of paintings, a good entry into the world of fine arts. So, a bookmark is a personal traveling souvenir but also a keyhole allowing a look into the character of a location. Here are some examples:

I am especially happy about handmade bookmarks. These can be made from friends or relatives or directly from artists, e.g. at craft markets. But I collect all kinds of bookmarks as well. To be honest, I stopped taking bookmarks in German bookshops, because it became too much. 
​
Somehow amazing also is the diversity of technologies in which bookmarks are made or in which they do their job:

Many other technologies exist, where magnetic clips or elastic straps are among the most common.
​
To the book clip: I am just wondering who in such a hard-core process engineering company comes to the idea of producing bookmarks for advertising purposes. Actually, other companies like car producers make it as well.

What is the most unusual bookmark in your collection? 

This question is really difficult to answer, as Debrah Gai Lewis already mentioned. Some are very interesting, others funny or remarkable. In the sense of which one is most rarely to be found is this one probably from Iran. It shows a Polo scene, very finely painted on bone as the basis material. Actually, I am even not 100% sure that it is originally meant as a bookmark. May be somebody can enlighten me?

How do you acquire your bookmarks?

Besides book shops, the most rich sources are museums shops. I’m not even scared to visit souvenir shops. This has to be done alone, as other brave people, who can easily spend hours in warehouses, will give up after minutes. 

However, the most unique ones, often from the manufacturers by themselves, I find on flea or craft markets. Sometimes craftsmen’s workshops offer bookmarks as a side product or for advertisement. Recently I found a leather bookmark in a bags and belts shop and a silver bookmark in a jeweler, shops I would usually not even notice.

Many of course are donated to me from family or colleagues. Sometimes, when I have time, I do a bid on eBay. Also, Pinterest is a source of ideas.

How do you organize, display and store your collection?

This is my collection housed now in 50 gift boxes containing 100 specimens of bookmarks each for an estimated total of about 5,000. This is good enough to rummage in the boxes or put the content on the table to show it to friends.

​The bookmarks are continuously numbered more or less chronologically from the beginning. Further, I put them into an Access database. A formal description by size, date of production and acquisition, motif, text, etc. makes seeking and remembering easier. Besides that, it contains a free text meant to appear during display on the website.  

For exhibitions I use such display cases as the one below. Rosemarie Abel organized such events from time to time (see also the first picture).

In my office I have 6 of such cases, one for every continent, of course without Antarctica but separates for North and South America. This is the one for Europe. The background is a vintage map wallpaper from a Polish stationery company. The bookmark from Germany contains a little piece of the Berlin Wall with a bit of original colour, as it was painted on the west side. “Original” means that with all of these splinters you could easily build two new walls. 🙁

What has been your experience in using the IFOB Swap List?

Unfortunately, I have not many doubles, and did not take part in the Swap List. May be, after retirement that can change.

What do you enjoy about IFOB?  Anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future?

It is really great, how many collectors from all over the world take part and contribute to the site and the Facebook page. It was not long ago that I learned not to be alone with this hobby, but some people in Germany and some other European countries are also active. Now finally there is a worldwide platform.

Do you have any plans to celebrate World Bookmark Day next time?

I'm seriously considering it.

Do you collect anything else?

Besides collecting as such, I work on a website, where my bookmarks are displayed.

www.bookmark-museum.com [caution: may not work on some browsers]

The idea was not only to display bookmarks but to bring them to their own life. Bookmarks showing plants, e.g. grow up forming a botanical garden in the bookmark museum. It has some technical features like a virtual reading glass for magnification of bookmarks in high resolution or a torch to increase brightness. As Flash is no longer supported by many browsers I stopped work for the moment. 

Editor's note: If the museum works on your browser, you are in for a treat!  Explore the different categories to see how bookmarks can come to life. We hope Clemens will continue to work on this site as an unusual way to present his collection. 

Editor’s Note:  Olav is one of our newer members, joining in January 2020.  As you will see, he has a huge and interesting collection and has been sharing examples on our Facebook group for members.

Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection?

I only collect paper bookmarks from all over the world and all topics outside religious ones. The main reason is that with religious ones there is basically no end to it and I am not religious anymore.

What is the most unusual bookmark in your collection? 

Probably the ones (4) that can slide to show all the moon phases. They date back to the 40’s. 

How do you acquire your bookmarks?

Obviously I ask for them in bookshops wherever and whenever I can. I get them from people that save them. Also when I am traveling, I try to take home as many as possible without spending a fortune. I also buy on the internet like on the Dutch version of  Craigs list and on auction sites. 

How do you organize, display and store your collection?

All sorted bookmarks are stored in plastic folders in ring binders. The plastic folders I organize myself by using a bag seal machine. Very helpful. Currently I have well over 200 ring binders (wide ones), but when I am done sorting all bookmarks, I guess I will be close to 300. I estimate that I have at least 50,000 bookmarks! 

What has been your experience in using the IFOB Swap List?

Haven’t used the swap list yet. I have offered to swap bookmarks, but no transaction has taken place yet. I do have over five large moving boxes full of double bookmarks and it would be a waste to throw them away at some point. 

What do you enjoy about IFOB?  Anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future?

It’s nice to be part of a community of fellow collectors and recently I started sharing pictures and stories which is nice as I am getting positive reactions. Along the way useful information is exchanged.

Do you have any plans to celebrate World Bookmark Day next time?

I will next time.

Do you collect anything else?

I collect art, mainly silk screen prints. I collect 5 different designs of Waterman roller ball and ball point pens, and I have a large collection of classical stamps from Hungary. If I lived alone, I would probably become one of those hoarders 😊

Tell us about yourself – where you are from, your education and occupation.
 
I am a New Englander by birth (b. 1932) and educated in schools and colleges in the Boston, Massachusetts area, except for a PhD degree from the University of Buffalo, in New York State. I have worked as a Professional Reference Librarian, but most of my career has been spent teaching English and American literature, and Library Science world-wide, in England, Africa, Australia, and across the United States. 

We often get requests about how to “retire” bookmark collections from collectors or those who inherit collections.  Can you explain how you donated your collection to the University?
 
During the ten years I was employed as  professor of Library Studies and Bibliographic Instruction in the James A. Michener Library at the University of Northern Colorado, my bookmark collection of some 900 items was frequently pressed into service to augment exhibits mounted by the library to celebrate, for example: "The Book" or "Reading" or "Academic Research" etc. When not being used for exhibits the collection was boxed and shelved in my office or elsewhere in the library. Thus, upon my retirement it seemed that the thing to do was to transfer ownership of the bookmark collection to the university. It is now kept in the Michener Library Archives where it is available upon request by library users (from on or off campus) to view or examine [ see [Description of Item], Manuscript Collections, F. X. Roberts' Collection: Bookmarks & Writings (SC 73), Archival Services, James A. Michener Library, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado.  Accessed October 09, 2019.]. Transferring ownership was (in my case) simply a matter of signing a "Proffer of Gift" form. The proffer gave both physical and intellectual control of the collection to the Michener Library to manage, and use as wanted. 
 
My special interest is the study of the history, development and use of bookmarks.

Tell us about your research into bookmarks.  What questions were you trying to answer and how did you go about conducting your research?
 
My interest in researching the origin of bookmarks stemmed naturally from my collecting activities. Though, as I said earlier, collecting bookmarks was for me a casual activity. However, as I accumulated  bookmarks of various kinds and types, two questions became uppermost in my mind:  First, what really is a bookmark? that is, how do we define a true bookmark? Second, what was the origin of the bookmark? that is, when and where were bookmarks first used, and (per impossible!) by whom? (Spoiler alert: I eventually found no definitive answer to any of these questions.)
 
In an attempt to answer question one, (How is a bookmark defined?), I read through many dictionary definitions of the word "bookmark." (Working in a university library gave me access to a large number of dictionaries from the small pocket size to the OED.) Although details differed, depending on the size of a dictionary and the length of the entry for "bookmark," in the main dictionary definitions devoted themselves to the preserving, finding (or locating) function of the bookmark. Based on this fact and on my reading of as many articles about the use of bookmarks as I could acquire, I created my own working definition of the term:  "A 'bookmark' is a finding device acting as a portable (or sometimes stationary) 'index' to guide readers to where they left off reading, or to mark for relocation some particularly interesting, appealing or useful section of text in a book."  Dictionaries and glossaries do not normally define "bookmark" as something to be collected.
 
So the question remained, and even the "duck test" would not answer it. If it looks like a bookmark... If it acts like a bookmark... But what does a bookmark "look" like, and what does a bookmark "act" like? Obviously there may possibly be as many answers to these questions as there are types of bookmarks in existence. Perhaps for the bookmark collector the ultimate test would be to have the word "Bookmark" appear on the item. But that merely begs the question. It is a bookmark because it says it is!  But can this really be the ultimate criteria? For example: In the library of Balliol College at Oxford University, there is still in place in a fifteenth-century manuscript (MS 161 Andreas Billia) a slip of parchment with Latin in medieval hand written on it. And in another fifteenth-century manuscript at Balliol (MS 209 Duns Scotus) there resides a larger parchment piece folded in two with writing in a medieval hand between the folds. Both of these  scraps are no doubt long-forgotten "bookmarks." There is nothing written on them that says so, but who can doubt it. And what really avid collector would not want to posses such ancient "bookmarks?"
 
I began my preparation for researching the origin of bookmarks by studying sources on the history of the book, and on  the history of libraries, from ancient to modern times. My "reading research" gave me clues to where I might locate libraries in institutions of education, in religious institutions, such as cathedrals, and in museums, whose holdings included manuscripts and early printed books containing items notionally defined as "bookmarks" of various kinds and types. Having identified such places, I wrote to a number of them to make application as a visiting scholar on sabbatical leave from my university post. In this way I gained access to the manuscript and rare book collections held by, for example, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library at Oxford University,  other college libraries at Oxford and Cambridge universities, the libraries of both Exeter and Hereford cathedrals, the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England, and others. In these libraries I was able to do a hands-on, close up study of ancient bookmarks in medieval manuscripts, and in early printed books, as well as in more contemporary printed sources, up to and including the nineteenth century.