Work on paper - Bookplate, The Secrets of the Silk Road

Historical information

After a quiet period, interest in bookplates in Australia began to increase in the early 1970s, Entrepreneurial art and book collectors such as Edwin Jewell and others commissioned multiple Bookplate designs from a range of well known fine artists. At a 1997 meeting in Melbourne of the Ephemera Society of Australia Edwin Jewell and others announced the formation of the Australian Bookplate Society. The society was instrumental in promoting the art of the bookplate through establishment of the Australian Bookplate Design competition. The competition includes a design award for secondary schools students.

Physical description

Venetian prince set against eastern buildings, seas, gondolas and ships with eastern architecture, symbols and camels. A dragon and elephant in prince's diadem and hair. Library details surrounding sun and moon either side of main figure all in bi-coloured inks.

Inscriptions & markings

Inscribed beneath image, "The Secrets of the Silk Road" Ex Libris Biblioteca Bodio Lambnago - Etching Natalija 2019

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