A quiet tradition worth reviving - and how to make one your own.
Ex libris is Latin for "from the books of." For nearly six hundred years, readers have marked the books they kept with a small, considered seal - a quiet way of saying this one is mine.
It's a habit that almost disappeared in the age of paperbacks and warehouse shelves. But for readers who still buy hardbacks, who keep journals, who lend and gift the books they love, ex libris is back. Here's what it is, where it came from, and how to make one your own.
What ex libris means
The phrase translates literally as "from the books of." A book marked with an ex libris is signed, in effect, by its owner. Some are printed labels pasted inside the front cover (the original sense of the word "bookplate"). Some are inked stamps. The most lasting kind is an ex libris embosser - a brass tool that presses a permanent, raised impression directly into the paper. No ink, nothing to fade.
The wording can be ex libris, From the library of, From the books of, This book belongs to, or simply a name. The phrase is less important than the act: marking the book as yours.
A short history
The earliest known bookplates date to fifteenth-century Germany - small printed labels, often illustrated by the same artists who illuminated manuscripts. By the 1700s, every serious library had one. Family crests. Monograms. Botanicals. A motto in Latin underneath. The bookplate was a quiet declaration that this book belonged to a specific household, in a specific room, on a specific shelf.
It wasn't about pride. It was about belonging. Books, in those years, were lent often and lost often. A small mark inside the cover was the difference between a book that might come back and one that wouldn't.
The tradition continued through the Victorian era - when ex libris design became a recognised art form, with collectors trading bookplates the way philatelists trade stamps - into the early twentieth century, when private libraries quietly went out of fashion alongside the rest of slow domestic life.
Why ex libris is back
Books have started to feel rare again. Not in number - there are more printed than ever - but in intention. The people who choose to keep paperbacks, hardbacks, journals, and notebooks in a world that increasingly doesn't are doing it for a reason. The ex libris is a way to honour that reason.
It also makes a personal library feel like a library. Five books with your seal pressed inside the front cover are, suddenly, a collection.
And it's a beautiful thing to gift. A finished book, the seal of the giver pressed quietly inside, is the kind of detail that lasts a lifetime.
How to make an ex libris of your own
The modern way is an embosser - two precision-engraved brass plates and a hinged handle. You slide a page in, press down, lift away. The seal stays in the paper. No ink, nothing to dry.
Designing one is a small act of taste. Three things to think about:
Restraint
The mark sits inside the front cover for the lifetime of the book. It should look as good in fifty years as it does today, which usually means a single, considered design rather than three or four ideas competing.
Personal, but not literal
The best ex libris designs say something quietly. A botanical for the gardener. A fox for the reader of folklore. A small ship for someone who travels with their books. The seal isn't your face. It's a hint.
Wording that ages well
"From the library of Margaret Whitlow" reads better in fifty years than "Maggie's Books 2026." Full names, restrained dates, simple Latin phrases - all sit comfortably alongside the design without dating it.
Where to press your ex libris
The traditional places - and still the best ones:
- The title page of a paperback or hardback
- The front endpaper of a hardback (the unprinted page just inside the cover)
- The flyleaf of a journal or notebook
- The front of a wedding invitation, gift envelope, or thank-you card
Avoid: very thin photocopier paper, fully glossy coated card, anything thinner than about 80gsm. The impression won't hold cleanly.
What it costs
A custom brass embosser, made to order with your design and wording, costs less than the average dinner out. Once you have one, it works on every book you own - past, present, and future. There's no consumable, no refill, nothing to replace.
It will probably outlast every paperback in your collection. Quite possibly every hardback too.
Designing your own
You can describe what you want and have it drawn for you - initials wrapped in laurel, a creature from a much-loved story, a quiet botanical, a small house, your favourite literary scene. Or pick from a library of hand-drawn designs already made.
Either way, the design is engraved onto a solid brass plate that fits the embosser, and the sea