Bookplates: Yes or No??

[mhatchett]

Bookplates seem to have fallen out of favor lately. When I first started collecting books, the feeling seemed to be, as long as they were tasteful and acid free, they didn't detract from the value of the book. I enjoy finding good bookplates in the books I purchase. The other day I was perusing books in a used book store and I found one of my old books on the shelf with the bookplate intact. It was kind of neat to think that that book will travel on with my name in it. "Books are ships that sail the seas of time" kind of thing. I like seeing the twisty strange connections sometimes. A sort immortality.... And I like beautiful bookplates. For what it's worth.
MDH

[srboone]

I never thought of it like that before. I've always avoided buying the books with bookplates in them and I've only put them in books that I don't want to sell (at least that's I tell mysself ). I have gotten some books with bookplates intact, but that's because it wasn't in the description. My copy of Pet Semetery has a bookplate in it and I got my money refunded and was told to keep the book becaue the seller hadn't been able to sell it (it had been bought and returned several times.)

[Ben Staad]

For what it's worth I greatly dislike bookplates. To me they look like the folks who put stickers all over their laptops. It's just not my thing.

[Grant Wootton]

Not a fan of bookplates at all, just the overall look does it for me and, like Squire, I've requested refunds if a book I purchased arrived with a previous owners plate in it (if it were advertised as bookplated, I'd not consider it for inclusion in my collection - unless the plate belonged to someone I'd heard of - ie, should I see an SK 1st edition bookplated by DRK, I'd think about it)

[srboone]

Took a look at my PS again and it does have the book plate in it, but no name. But its in the bottom left corner of the front endpaper--most of it's hidden by the frontflap of the DJ. I find even that placement to be odd.

[bookworm 1]

I hate book plates.My wifes grandmother ruined the value of all her books.After she died we were going through her books book plates were in first editions of C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters all first editions of every James A.Michener book and a first edition copy of All Quiet on the Western Front.We were told by a book seller that the book plates probably lowered the value by 70% or more.So a big no to book plates for me.

[Teriw]

Really? That much? Crazy. I thought they'd ever so slightly increase the value. but i still didnt like them anyway.

[jhanic]

I agree with Grant. If a book has a bookplate attached, it's an automatic no-sale to me. It's simply defacing the book permanently.

John

[Martin]

If a book has a bookplate I will only buy it if I really need to add it to my collection and the price is low.

[bookworm 1]

Unless it was owned by someone famous then you could hit the mother load.

[JDar.]

It's upsetting when I find a collectable with a non-author related bookplate, ink stamp or writing in it. I'd only buy it as a low-priced reading copy.

I haven't seen the practice used lately, but how do you feel about a author's signature bookplate?

Jan

[srboone]

I don't know; I don't have any, but Michael Moorcock (one of my favorite authors) signs most of his stuff these days by bookplate (they're free for the asking.)

Up to now, I've kinda turned my nose up at them....

[Grant Wootton]

Again, not a fan Jan, the only author bookplates I have in the collection are some of the Hodder & Stoughton UK Limited of King's (some real signature, some facsimile) - either way, they're not great, for two reasons ... (1) most of them appear to have been stuck into the book by 5 year olds with access to way too much glue and (2) an author bookplate doesn't have the same personal "wow the author's touched this very book that I'm holding" that a flat signed or signed limited has

[Dan Hocker]

(2) an author bookplate doesn't have the same personal "wow the author's touched this very book that I'm holding" that a flat signed or signed limited has

Not to burst your bubble but, there's not a lot of difference between a signed author book plate and a sig sheet in a signed limited. The author never actually had the book in his hands, he had a stack of sig sheets that where then bound into the book by the printer.

[JDar.]

Not to burst your bubble but, there's not a lot of difference between a signed author book plate and a sig sheet in a signed limited. The author never actually had the book in his hands, he had a stack of sig sheets that where then bound into the book by the printer.

A few years ago a few people (not the authors) were selling signed bookplates on eBay. Poppy Z Brite noticed her's was being sold and quickly posted on Message Boards and her blog that she had never signed a bookplate in her life. Soooo, one major diff between a bookplate and a signature sheet is that I feel more confident in the authenticity of the signature if it's bound into the book by the publisher.

.. . . and like Grant said, it looks better too.