bookplate special

The always beautiful and superb Bibliodyssey is presenting a collection of vintage bookplates—ex libris, from the Latin for “from the books of...” and I thought that this label from the library of one William Livermore Kingman with the humble motto “I am but a Gatherer and Disposer of Other Men's Stuff” was a brilliant, steam-punk mission statement for blogging in general. Most of these examples date from the turn of the last century, and I wonder with such things as detestable electronic water-marks and embedded captioning whether people still create their own personal stamps. I can recall while I was at university going through a phase with woodcutting and pasting my mark in my book collection. Most of the time, the end results amounted to experimenting with different fonts and the playful, pun-motto of my alma mater: Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque or I make free men out of children by means of books and a balance.