little touches

I learned something fantastic and new Wednesday when I was researching antique documents. I ran across "bookplates".

At first, I thought these were literal plates tha

t aristocrats with large libraries had decorated and placed their favorite/most prized books on top of. I got excited because I thought I would make my own book plate to present my book on. Then, I learned what they actually are.

Bookplates are little labels or slips of paper pasted into the front of every single book an individ

ual or family owns. It usually includes the inscription "Ex Libris", to indicate that it comes from the library of someone. I then began looking up Civil War era bookplates, as they were still in use at this time.

This guy was a doctor and used this book in field for lovely Civil War surgery.

I was inspired to make my own book plate to insert into my final book, adding to the "authenticity" of the whole project.

Yay, Illustrator!