How many bookmarks do you have? Not the ones on your
computer, but physical ones to mark your place in the printed books you read.
I have a drawerful. Many are from my local library, slipped
into one of the multiple titles I check out on each visit. Just today, I
received a glossy version with a list of upcoming events on one side and an
invitation to sponsor a paving stone on the other. I still have a stash of
paper bookmarks in multiple colors advertising branch hours and summer book
sales from my previous library system in Virginia.
Bookstores have provided another stockpile, sourced from places
like our local woman-owned store, a college-adjacent shop in Princeton, New Jersey,
and an English-language bookseller in Zurich, Switzerland. Online bookstores feature
as well, having supplied the out-of-print treasures I occasionally need to
track down.
My husband likes to mark his place with items picked up as he reads on our travels, like museum tickets and paper boarding passes. I’m more likely to use one of the many author bookmarks acquired at conferences or tucked into an exciting new read purchased from a fellow writer.
Of course, bookmarks are sold in all sorts of materials and
styles. They’re mass-produced and hand-crafted, made of things like metal,
leather, pressed flowers, or hand-made paper, and adorned with pithy quotes,
custom photos, or colorful tassels. Whatever your fancy, someone can supply it.
Some of the most interesting bookmarks out there can be
found on the “Found In A Library Book” page on the Oakland Public Library’s website
(https://oaklandlibrary.org/found-in-a-library-book/).
The page catalogs the notes, photos, artwork, and more that patrons have left
in their books. It even has a collection of actual bookmarks.
I found one of those forgotten items in the last library book I read: a note in a child’s handwriting from someone named Alex to his mom. It says he thinks she is the best and he loves her.
I asked the librarian if our library holds onto found items.
She said they do, but also said that no one has ever come back looking for any
of them. I hope that means that my fellow readers are marking their progress with
other favorites from their own extensive collections.
Do you have a collection of bookmarks? Do you have favorites
among them?
