Have you ever picked up an old book and noticed a beautiful little book trade label pasted down to the endpaper? Bookbinders, printers, publishers, and sellers of books used to advertise their trades this way. Such labels have been used in books in Europe, Canada and the US since the 1700's. Although they were often no larger than a quarter in most cases, the skilled level of design and typography displayed was no less deserving. Much of it designed entirely by hand, often with flourishes and decorative borders, and some of the most beautiful had text set inside the frame of a book. Many were printed by rubber stamps, but most often they were printed by trade letterpress printers. They were usually one or two colors, often with a reverse on color papers to give the impression of two-color printing. And I find the endless variety of die-cut and embossed labels to be intriguing examples of printing history and skill. Greg Kindall, of nearby Kirkland, WA has displayed a collection of over 2100 book trade labels at his website, sevenroads.org where you can explore them by geographical region, topical or alphabetical order. A librarian's dream. You can click on image for closer examination, or explore far more at Kindall's website.
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