spirituality 08.pdf

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spirituality - lesson 8: ex libris

ex-libris by austin osman spare (left 1908, right 1909)

books are perceived as a vehicle to knowledge, coupled with the fact that in pasttimes only a few people could read well, those in possession of books were seenas highly powerful individuals, with access to a level of reality that others didn't.monasteries and churches of every religion owned some of the biggest libraries,

making them the primary sources of information and culture at the time.

before the invention of the printing press the production of a single book was along and difficult endeavor. the skin of sheep, goat or calve would have to betreated, stretched and dried, then cut and formed into sheets. a book like thebible might have taken over 200 hides to create the pages. scribes, a special fewwho were able write, would painstakingly transcribe the books, with elaboratedetails, then on top of that there was the craftsmanship of binding of the book.

this whole arduous process meant that quite obviously books were expensiveand libraries rare. even with the invention of paper in 750AD in china the

accumulation of books in a library was an expensive business .

'to steal this book closes the gates of heaven, and to destroy it opens the gatesof hell. anyone who takes this book without permission will be punished by all thegods of japan.'- an inscription on the book-seal of the daigoji temple, circa 1470.

books are cherished and cared for. to academics and intellectuals books havealways been of huge importance, not only for the knowledge they provide butalso what theyr eflect about the owner. they are a source of pride and constantpleasure.

there is something great about lending someone a book, sharing someknowledge, or simply entertainment with a friend, letting them participate in atreasured pleasure. but have you ever lent a book and never got it back? acommon and annoying occurrence even today, but perhaps with less urgencythan in the 14th century. as we have established, books were expensive and


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therefore tempting objects to steal. one way to solve this was to chain them totables, but another solution offered a far more interesting and creativeopportunity.

'from the library of...' the earliest example of 'ex libris' is that of amenophis III inegypt. the small ceramic plate dates back to about 1390 AD, and would havebeen attached to papyrus scrolls declaring them to be a part of amenophis'library. however the origins of ex libris as we understand them today - in the form

of paper bookplates - are found in germany during the 15th century and have along history.

these tokens of ownership were all hand painted onto small pieces of fine paper(a universal size that would fit all books) and then carefully pasted into them.

of course, the arrival of the gutenberg printing press in 1455 changed everything.now people could create bigger libraries and with this there were more books tomark. having all the items decorated by hand would have been hugely costlytherefore engraving and wood cut printed batches would be made and pastedinto each volume, some being hand painted as well to enhance beauty. on paper

thin enough so that the front cover can lay flat. batches of 50 to 100 eachnumbered and sighed by the artist.

by gregor rabinovitch circa 1910s


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by emil d.j. doeple for wilheimi II circa 1895

by axel father, 1998


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by peter fingesten for norbert nechwatal, 1984

by emil orlik for paul bacher, 1905


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alois kolb for dr. gustav leuschner

blue glazed ceramic ex libris belonging the king amenophis III


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by ye ling feng XI, 1933

by unknown for guan zu zhang, circa 1914


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a universal ex libris, circa 1530

ex libris of hildebrand brandenburg of biberach, a monk in themonastery of buxheim. as a rich man, he donated many booksto the monastery's library, circa 1790

by vogelmann, circa 1530


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by jakob bink for carolus agricola, 1538

hand painted by jost ammann for melchior schedel, 1570a later member of the family painted the first name overand substituted his own, sebastian,


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by albrecht drer was one of the first noted ex libris artistsin germany, 'sibi et amicis means belonging to him andhis friends, circa 1500

by raphael sadeler for biblio bayern, circa 1623


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by an unknown artist for sbastien galigai, circa 1610

by an unknown artist for pier huet, 1692. the most illustriousprince of the church gave the 8321 volumes of his bookcollection to the jesuit library in pari


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ex-libris designed by samuel pepys for his secretary arthur charlett, 1699

by josef werner and elias hainzelmann for giovanni andrea guidotti, circa 1690


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by sebastien le clerc & claude duflos for matthieu franois geoffory, circa 1710

by franois boucher for jean-franois henault, circa 1750


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by george vertue for the gentlemen's society of spalding, england, 1735

a portrait ex libris by an unknown artist for count filippo linati, circa 1780

a portrait ex libris by bernard baron for a british architect james gibbs, 1736


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by an unknown artist for paul and isaac vaillant, circa 1780

by max klinger for himself, 1896

surrealist image of a beheaded medusa by richard mllerfor leonhard fanto, 1911.


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by louis titz for jules darcet, 1914titz made several ex-libris in 1914-1918 on the subject ofwar, this ex libris has inscribed: 'in the ruins here was mylibrary on the wall'

by juan forja for oscar tiberio, circa 1930ex libris was not widespread argentina until the mid1920's but the art dco style quickly arrived from europe


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by alfred cossmann for himself, circa 1900

by alfred soder for friedrich berchtold sutter, 1907nietsche naked in the alps, characteristic of thefreedom and imagination of the time


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by karl blossfeld for himself, circa 1920blossfeld creates a figure representing man's frailtyfor his own books

ex libris of kasimir de rnay, circa 1925


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by paul nash for samual courtauld, 1931

by author and playwright jean cocteau

for pierre endmond lvy, 1960

by surrealist sculptor alberto giacomettifor edmond bomsel, circa 1950


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for the public record office in the tower of london, 1771

ex eroticis by fritz mock for dr. josef klber, circa 1910


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ex eroticis by martin ernst phillipp for 'o.s.s', 1913

vanitas ex libris by johann jakob and johann rudolf schid, schmid


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vanitas ex libris by josef sattler for paul bcher, 1894

vanitas ex libris by alfred liebing for joan baucis circa 1910


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an example of vanitas ex libris, showing the medievaltotentaz (dance of death) by karl ritter, 1921

a vanitas motif by georg oskar erler for his own bookplate, circa 1920


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by erich bttner for albert einstein in 1917

ex libris for charlie chaplin


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nerve cells for perrivel bailey, a neurosurgeon


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by an unknown artist for scientist arthur barron

by an unknown artist for garrett hardin, a microbiologist


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motifsthe simplest way to indicate who owned a book was by the depiction of a coat ofarms, or family crest. these types of identification symbols could be understoodeven by those who could not read, and were of course a proud way ofcommunicating status. inscriptions and mottos were also popular, furtherreinforcing the views and beliefs of the book's owner. the earliest examples of exlibris are all heraldic in form.

but like the technology of making books and ex libris evolved, so did the stylesand motifs depicted on them. portraits soon became a popular alternative tofamily emblems, they provided a more individual and personal identification, andwent someway to massaging egos! pictorial ex libris also was used to expressthe owners identity.

throughout the age of enlightenment books became more and more widelyavailable to people within different levels of society. the middle classes hadincreased access to culture and knowledge and as such they too began to formtheir own private libraries. not all these people, however could afford to

commission an artist to create a personal ex libris, it was still an expensivecollaborative process, reserved for the rich. engravers soon found that there wasa market for universal bookplates, with which the owner could write their name ina blank space.

later in the 18th and 19th centuries images and features such scales, shells,urns, architectural features landscapes, chinese motifs were prevalent in design.the overall effect having not so much to do with identification or heritage, asmuch as representation of values and interests. for example a pile of books mayrepresent a neap of knowledge, or a microscope might represent a scientistswork with small cells.

by the early 20th century the designing and creating of ex libris became regardedas a form of high art.

vanitas ex librisdoes not, as you might think, refer to the vain aspects of the ex libris tradition -like pasting small depictions of oneself on all your literary possessions! instead ittranslates from latin 'vanitas' meaning emptiness, and is used to illustrate themeaningless of earthy life and the transient nature of vanity. very often symbolssuch as peacocks together with skulls and skeletons would be incorporated intothe design, representing the finiteness of man and the certainty of death.

as we've said before, it was during the middle ages in europe that librarianshipreally became popular. not only was this a time of unbounded exploration anddiscovery but also period of philosophical contemplation.

death was prevalent due to diseases such as the black death / plague. theillustrations could be mistaken for references to the results of war, but insteadthey were a reminder that man is only mortal, a limited being with an expiry date.meanwhile books can last much longer and one day become the possessions ofsomeone else.

similarly an hourglass or candle might serve as a reminder of the transitory

quality of pleasure. pictorial ex libris with books, globes, musical instruments orsmoking implements dealt with the vanity of the intellectual world, coupled with askull could mean the limitation of human knowledge.

these small paper pieces remained as a sort of antique business card, marking


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the intellectual property of learned people.

is there a place for ex libris in the digital world? despite developments in moderncommunication technology, books remain a primary means for the transmissionof knowledge but with the rise of the internet, and the freedom of acquiringknowledge that it brings with it, books have certainly lost their supremacy as thesole providers of knowledge and a lot of their followers. but even though booksare not honoured in quite the same way more they have therefore referred back

to their status of being special and uncommon.

is there a digital equivalent of ex libris?

exercisewhy not have a go at designing your own ex libris and post your efforts on thediscussion board.

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