Is this a dagger you see before you? No, it’s a bookmark from Scotland. I’ve been to Scotland, and picked up several bookmarks there, but this wasn’t one of them. It came from a friend.

Book: Macbeth: A Dagger of the Mind by Harold Bloom

Bookmarked Bookmarks

As you know, I like to get bookmarks from every place I visit. I’ve never been to Rapa Nui (formerly known as Easter Island), but my neighbours did and they thoughtfully picked me up a keepsake. The next best thing to being there.

Book: The Hitler Conspiracies by Richard J. Evans

Bookmarked Bookmarks

This is a sturdy metal bookmark with what I think is a traditional Japanese theatre mask as the emblem. But I might be wrong with that identification. Whatever its origin, it certainly looks fierce.

Book: The End of White Christian America by Robert P. Jones

Bookmarked Bookmarks

You don’t have to spend money to start collecting bookmarks. You can pick up lots of them for free at bookstores and libraries while you’re at the checkout. And if you hold on to them you’ve got a little piece (OK, a very little piece) of history. As an example, here are some bookmarks I’ve picked up over the years commemorating the 2003, 2004, and 2008 Governor-General’s Literary Awards. Two of the 2004 bookmarks are shown so you can see both sides.

Not that I think arts awards mean anything, because I sure don’t, but dated bookmarks like this do add something to every collection.

Book: Complete Works by William Shakespeare (ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen)

Bookmarked Bookmarks

A pair of very nice Robert Hall originals, pewter and ribbon. I’m not sure if there’s any connection to be made between a bagpiper and an inuksuk, but for just this once you can see them lying side by side.

Book: History of Italian Renaissance Art by Frederick Hartt and David G. Wilkins

Bookmarked Bookmarks

At least I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be a dragon. It’s Chinese.

Book: Somebody’s Husband, Somebody’s Son by Gordon Burn

Bookmarked Bookmarks

Picked this up at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto about twenty or so years ago. But hemp lasts forever.

Book: The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire by Peter Clarke

Bookmarked Bookmarks

The googly eyes make this one.

Book: Thucydides: The Reinvention of History by Donald Kagan

Bookmarked Bookmarks

Just another novelty bookmark, this one illustrating the adage about raining cats and dogs. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it has a 3-D effect.

Book: Empire of Blue Water by Stephan Talty

Bookmarked Bookmarks

I don’t think I’m really keen on beaded bookmarks, at least ones where the beads go between the pages. But this is nice.

Book: The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by Thomas Childers

Bookmarked Bookmarks