Sarah's Books - Used & Rare

Well. Books are wonderful, we all agree on that. But bookish ephemera is fine too - I've already posted below about booksellers's tickets and labels. And bookplates are a vast field of collecting I've barely ventured into. My friend Gary has a huge collection of bookplates, and he copied this for me, because it's the bookplate of a distant relative on the old family tree.

So why collect ephemera - this is a perfect example of why. I mean, look at it! Great design, with humor and erudition all in one. "Whence. Whither. Wherefore?" Yes, those penguins all have books tucked underneath their wings. This would be even better if the bookplates were all in a collection of books about polar exploration, but that I cannot verify. The bookplate dates from the 1890s. Just thought I'd share it, it's so weird and wonderful .

And a very happy Twelfth Night, a day late. The mailman never did visit yesterday in the snow, and today all I got was junk mail. Still waiting for those book packages...