Ex Libris Collecting---What????

On our recent trip to th Czech Republic--we became aware of a European collecting frenzy that was never on my radar before--Ex Libris Collecting.

Ex Libris  literally means the bookplate used to describe a book's owners.  Yes--those paper stickers that you sometimes see inside the front cover of a book are collectible, desirable and sometimes worth some serious money.

I vaguely remember receiving a package of bookplates from my mother as a birthday gift when I was in early grade school.  They came in a heavy cardboard box with gold trim and had adhesive on one side like postage stamps and on the other--a colorful collection of drawings and the words "This book belongs to...".   I know I exited the birth canal with a book clutched in my tiny hand--so it was not at all unusual for my mom to give me this rather grown up gift when I was young.  I remember sitting at my desk and carefully--Oh So Carefully spelling out my name in cursive and getting ready to install the plates in my books.

Ex Libris collecting is REALLY big in the Czech Republic.  Most antiques shops have boxes of them at the front desk--and they are used and have been removed from books or are just "extras" that are available for purchase.  These plates can be really artistic gems--made to order by the book owner or even designed by famous artists--as one of a kind special works of art that say "This book is mine--please return it if it gets lost".  Some have quirky artwork, some use coats of arms or monograms.  They are collected and put in albums much like stamp collecting.

Libraries use them as invaluable tools to trace the ownership of books.  In the CZ, since 1992, restitution of real property and personal property has been going on with great vigor.  Items that were confiscated by the Germans and Russians is still be returned to families.  Ex libris plates allow libraries to be rebuilt and "lost" books to be returned home.

Some of these ex libris plates can be worth big money.  I wonder if my 1960s version with the childish scrawl are worth anything?