Actually, I don’t think the ancient Egyptians used bookmarks because they didn’t have books. They kept written works on scrolls.
This is kept in a plastic sheath because it’s painted on papyrus, and it’s very thin and delicate. I can’t remember where I got it, but it wasn’t Egypt. So most likely some museum.
Book: A World Beneath the Sands: The Golden Age of Egyptology by Toby Wilkinson
Unlike a lot of my tourist bookmarks, which I get as gifts from people who travel more than I do, I may have bought this one myself. But I don’t think I did. I know I have been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art though so it’s at least possible.
It’s quite nice, which is one reason it’s still in its plastic holder. Gold-plated brass with an applied decal image of a coloured lithograph of the Statue of Liberty.
Book: Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody Holton
This is one of the more mysterious items in my bookmark collection. It’s a picture of a bird but I don’t know what kind of a bird. Possibly because it’s not a bird from around here. I’m also not sure where the bookmark came from, who gave it to me, or when. My only clue is a boy’s name on the back and the information that he was “10 años.” So perhaps someone brought this back from Spain or Portugal? Or a Spanish-speaking country? I don’t know. But it looks pretty.
Book: Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner by Paul M. Sammon
I’ve had occasion to say before how bookmarks make such great collectibles because you can pick them up anywhere you visit. Or anywhere people you know visit. This past week my neighbours went to Algonquin Park and brought me back this peaceful bookmark. On the back it says “The haunting wail of the loon; your paddle gently slicing the still water; the sun rising through the mist; a perfect start to any day while interior camping in Algonquin Park. In Algonquin there are over 2,000 lakes for you to explore.”
Is there anything as Canadian as paddling your canoe on a lake while listening to the haunting wail of the loon? Not unless it’s some activity involving maple syrup. So here’s some pure Canadiana for you to enjoy.
Book: Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited by Philip Eade
Since this past weekend was the annual Friends of the Guelph Public Library Book Sale I thought I’d post a pic of this year’s bookmark, and one from way back in 2017. A long time ago! At some point I guess they got demoted from a Giant Book Sale to a Big Book Sale. I don’t know why. This year it was held at a bigger location.
Book: Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee
Is this a goose, or a swan? I can tell the difference in the wild (swans are huge), but not from this sturdy brass bookmark.
Book: Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 by Ann Hagedorn
There are several bookstores named Booksmith that are still going. I think the most famous one may be in San Francisco. But I picked up these bookmarks on my one and only trip to New Hampshire in 1996, and I don’t think this particular Booksmith, which had three locations at the time, is still in existence. At least that’s what I’m given to understand by my sources on the ground in the Granite State. Which leads me to believe that this particular Booksmith is a Bookstore No More.
Book: Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux
This bookmark isn’t in the best of shape, but like a lot of these Bookstores No More bookmarks it represents a bit of history. Macondo is of course the fictional town that provides the setting for Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, but it’s also the name of a second-hand bookstore that was located just across the street from City Hall in Guelph for 36 years. “Established 1978 — Open 7 Days a Week.” It closed doors in 2014 for all the usual reasons. As the owner put it, “It’s a business that is no longer sustainable. It has been a great business over the last 36 years, but it has slowly fallen off. And we recognize that it is a big cultural shift that’s not going to change, or change in time to help us.”
Book: Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen
Mont-Tremblant is best known for its ski resort, but you can also pick up bookmarks there. I don’t ski.
Book: The Origin of Species by Nino Ricci
Hand carved from Quebec. Kind of bulky for use (it’s actually quite thick), but I like the concept.
Book: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Alex Good 