Exlibris

The term “ex libris” comes from the Latin and means literally “from the books” (Lat. ex = from, liber = book) and is used to talk about book labels and book ownership labels. The book owner indicated his name or his monogram with an “ex libris”; a so-called “ex libris” is also for the most part a small graphic in the form of a coat-of-arms, an allegory or an emblem. The artistic layout of an ex-libris figure can also consist of images, landscapes, or illustrations having to do with a profession or position, which are for the most part to be found affixed to the endpapers of a book. Artists of all epochs, among them L. Cranach, A. Dürer, L. Holbein, M. Behmer, M. Fingesten, M. Klinger and H. Vogeler-Worpswede, worked with ex-librises, using the most varied print techniques. Several societies (for example the German Ex-Libris Society) have devoted themselves to the care, promotion and research of ex-libris art.