Book Show: The History of Book Plates

ABC Radio News
By Ramona Koval

UNITED KINGDOM - Between the late 15th and 19th centuries, books were expensive, prestigious, luxury items. Most were bound in leather, and printed in gilt. To own a book was to hold status in society. Some of the bookplates were works of art. Some were religious, some were full of symbolisn and others were erotic and many are housed at the British Museum. [link]