Book plates
About About the Collection The John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera offers a fresh view of British history through primary, uninterpreted printed documents which, produced for short-term use, have survived by chance. The Collection is strongest in the 18th to early 20th centuries but also contains earlier documents. Physically arranged in some 700 subject headings, it is searchable in myriad ways through detailed cataloguing, selective OCR and digitisation. The John Johnson Collection is one of the Special Collections of the Bodleian Library and it is part of the department of Rare Books and Printed Ephemera .
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS About the Collection Bookplates, also known as ex libris , are labels pasted to the inside front cover of a book indicating ownership. Although some bookplates are simply text, others, with their ornate images, ornamentation, and calligraphy, are valued examples of design. Artists often employed engraving techniques such as wood cuts and copper or steel plates to create their prints. The Ainslie Hewett Bookplate Collection features 104 bookplates designed by Louisville native (George) Ainslie Hewett between 1909 and 1951. The bookplates were created for notable Louisville residents, as well as for clients across the United States. Ainslie Hewett was especially drawn to the Gothic style, the influence of which can be found in many of his designs.