Fellowship in Ephemera studies

We were delighted to appoint Dr Liz West as our first Fellow in Ephemera Studies. Liz decided to work on book-related ephemera to align with interests and priorities in our Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing.

Liz worked with the Amoret Tanner collection of bookplates, housed in the Centre for Ephemera Studies (TYP/CES/AT). This uncatalogued collection contains over 500 items, categorised by subject. Liz structured her bookplate stories around one bookplate to stimulate consideration about its illustration, wording and context of use and she discovered some fascinating stories:

“I came to the bookplate collection as a book historian with no specialist knowledge of either bookplate collecting as a hobby or field of study, or the design and print processes involved in their production. What caught my imagination was the stories presented within these small works of art, and what they can reveal of the passions and preoccupations of their commissioners. I let each bookplate I examined lead me down a different research path and I encountered some amazing characters along the way, from female scientists and explorers to sportsmen, gardeners and bookworms.”

Read the stories she has written stimulated by bookplates belonging to Mary Anne Robb, Ephraim McDowel Cosgrave, Christina Frances Hicks, and Gertrude Edlemann

Amoret Tanner began collecting bookplates as a child, guided by her father, an avid ex libris enthusiast who pursued his interest across the world, corresponding with Japanese artists and acquiring their work as well as commissioning examples for his family. Handwritten notes accompany many of the bookplates in the collection, and give information about their origin and creator.

Amoret was one of the CES volunteers making weekly visits, generously sharing her expertise and experience of printed ephemera.