Thursday, December 10, 2009

Booking Through Thursday: Mark the Spot

I love this week's question! BTT asks: "What items have you ever used as a bookmark? What is the most unusual item you've ever used or seen used?" I love it because I love bookmarks. I've collected or, more precisely, accumulated them since I was a child. Most of mine aren't terribly old or rare or anything – just things that have caught my eye or that have been given to me over the years. Some of them I inherited from my mother. Some I picked up while traveling – bookmarks make excellent souvenirs.

I like to make my own bookmarks, too. The computer and home printer have made that really easy – you can have a new, unique bookmark for every book you read. And I love finding bookmarks in the used books I buy. On our trip to Texas last year, I bought a copy of Ellery Queen's Blighted Dwellings in a used book store, and inside I found this homemade marker – pressed flowers someone had laminated and tucked away. Very sweet.


I'm not sure I've ever used anything extremely unusual as a bookmark. But I've certainly used all kinds of things to mark my place in the books I read – not just "official" bookmarks, but slips of paper, Post-It notes, pieces of yarn, feathers, Metro passes, old dental appointment reminder cards, nail files, paper dolls, wine labels, candy and gum wrappers, playing cards. My aunt used to cut the pictures off Celestial Seasonings tea packages to use as bookmarks, and I still have a number of those.


Right now, I'm reading a couple of Christmas themed books, so I'm using two vintage Christmas bookmarks. One appears to be from about the 1930s and says it's from "Miss Groves and Miss Staudt." Possibly a gift to an honored student from two admiring teachers? And the other is a home-made marker with a drawing of Santa and a "Merry Christmas" greeting – it was in a batch of old ephemera I bought years ago.


And one of my very favorite bookmarks, and one I use quite a lot, is this one. Not sure where I got it, but it has some wonderful advise:


If you're looking for more info on bookmarks, I've got a little list of links to favorite websites on my sidebar (just scroll down – OK, farther down). I always especially enjoy the Forgotten Bookmarks site, which has photos of some of the strange and "heartbreaking" things people leave in books.

21 comments:

  1. Wow Joy! That collection is impressive...and those laminated flowers are so sweet. What a lovely idea, and a neat find.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, I am envious! I love the Celestial Seasonings AND the dried flower idea. Nice pictures. Here's my mark!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a lovely selection! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your pictures! Thanks for sharing! :D

    ~MizB of Should Be Reading

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a great collection!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, I LOVE your collection! So impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a beautiful collection! Thank you for sharing them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your bookmark collection - especially the vintage beauties.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for sharing your lovely bookmark collection. I, too, have found bookmarks inside used books. On rare occasion I have found scraps of paper that were yellowed and aged.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love that you have it save bookmarks as a souvenir. I may consider doing that for my favourite books I read and create them from a scanned copy of the cover.

    The tea box ones made me smile.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love bookmarks - especially homemade ones :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a great collection, especially the pressed flowers!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great post! I love your collection.

    This made my day.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the picture! The idea of making my own bookmarks is a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow - a serious book marker are you!

    ReplyDelete
  16. wow, that is impressive.
    I use post-it notes..But I do use different colors! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your collection of bookmarks is amazing! I especially love the antique bookmarks!
    hugsxxx

    ReplyDelete
  18. aww mann I love your bookmarks!! even i don't have that many

    Here's mine

    ReplyDelete
  19. My goodness, you do love bookmarks. This is an impressive collection and I know who to ask when I am in the market for some new ones!

    Since you commented on dog-earing on my blog, and since I did not confess to it in my post, my only defense is that I do it VERY rarely!! Really! :)

    Mark
    www.mswallow.typepad.com

    ReplyDelete

Welcome and thanks for leaving me a comment. I love to hear from visitors.

Also, please note that while I appreciate the thought, I don't play the blog awards game. I think you all deserve awards! But you might think about becoming a follower of my blog -- that would really be the best award.