Newsletters

The Society issues a quarterly, full-colour Newsletter, with cover dates of March, June, September and December. The intention of the Newsletter is to publish a mixture of original material concerning contemporary bookplate artists, information on bookplate-related events such as auctions, sales and exhibitions, and items of historical interest. Each year we also feature a report from our trans-Tasman cousins at the Auckland Ex Libris Society. Each issue contains full-colour illustrations of bookplate designs. Members receive hard copies of the Newsletter, sometimes containing a tipped-in, original bookplate.

An Index to the first 20 issues of the Newsletter was compiled in early 2011 and published as a Supplement to the Newsletter. The Index to issues 21-40 was published as a second Supplement in September 2016. Supplement no. 3 was composed of the Index to issues 41-60 and published in July 2021. Complimentary copies of each Index are sent to financial members; paper copies are available from the Editor for $10 each including Australia/New Zealand postage, or the set of three for $20.

We have begun a series of supplements on the previously unknown or little-known bookplates of Australian artists and designers. The first of these was The bookplates of Graham Cox, issued in 2021 as supplement no. 4. Supplement no. 5, The bookplates of Ola Cohn was published in March 2023 (further details below of the two Supplements). Our next supplement, Directory of members 2023, is currently being collated, and it is hope that it will be published in early 2024. Copies of the supplements can be ordered from the Society at newaustralianbookplatesocietyATgmail.com

Newsletters (except for the most recent issues) are available as (low resolution) pdf files through the links below. Click on the active bolded Newsletter number below (eg Newsletter no. 28) to open the link.

Most back issues are out of stock, and we are offering all issues of the Newsletter in high-resolution, full-colour pdf files for $25. Please contact the Editor if you would like to order one.

If you have any ideas or contributions for the Newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact the Editor, Dr Mark Ferson at newaustrallianbookplatesocietyATgmail.com Contributions need neither be long nor academic; anything which may be of interest to bookplate lovers, including Letters to the Editor, Book or Exhibition Reviews, or any short note, will be cheerfully and gratefully received.

Newsletter no. 71, December 2023, reports on two events in the celebration of bookplate collecting in Australia: the Brisbane celebration at the State Library of Queensland; and the launch of the Digitised Eirene Mort Bookplate Collection, held in the new Art Library at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In addition, we feature an informative article by Jürgen Wegner on bookplates and 'bookplating' at the University of Sydney Library.

Newsletter no. 70, September 2023, is a special bumper issue marking the Centenary of bookplate collecting in Australia 1923-2023. Titled 'The Lane Mullins family and the world of bookplates', it brings together and updates previously published articles on John, George and Thomas Lane Mullins, their father James Mullins, and a new article 'The John Lane Mullins Bookplate Collection'. Contributors are Juanita Hattersley (great-niece of John Lane Mullins), Stephen M Szabo, Alice Tonkinson and Mark Ferson.

Newsletter no. 69, June 2023, reproduces the talk by longtime Melbourne collector Edwin Jewell 'Acquiring and disposing of a bookplate collection', a summary of the Society's 16th Annual General Meeting, an article by our London correspondent Bryan Welch on a Glasgow bookplate by De Courcy Lewthwaite Dewar, and an obituary for Albert (Jeff) Bidgood.

Supplement no. 5, The bookplates of Ola Cohn, in A5 format of 32pp illustrated with 9 bookplates and 5 photographs, was posted to all members as a gift from the Society to celebrate the Centenary. Copies are still available and may be ordered from the Editor at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at a cost of $32 including Australian/NZ postage.

Newsletter no. 68, March 2023, features a report by Andrew Peake on the XXXIX FISAE Congress in San Francisco, the President's report with highlghts from 2022 and Bibliography 2022.

Newsletter no. 67, December 2022, was posted out in January 2023. It features an article by Jürgen Wegner on Edwards & Shaw as bookplate printers, a review by Dr Gael Phillips of an article on bookplates in a recent issue of the English magazine Country Life, and an article by heraldic authority Stephen Michael Szabo on the armorial bookplate of Trevor & Mary Thomas.

Newsletter no. 66, September 2022, leads with Juanita Hattersley's article on James Mullins who was the father of John Lane Mullins, sometimes referred to as the 'father of Australian bookplates'; Charlotte Kowalski gives us a taste of 'Bookplates in the Ron Graham Science Fiction Collection' at Sydney University's Fisher Library; and there is a rundown of the special general meeting held on 13 September.

Newsletter no. 65, June 2022, starts with a profile of Victorian bookplate designer Rhyll Plant, and also covers a review by Dr Gael Phillips of The rise of the book-plate, a key American publication from 1901, and records the Bibliography compiled bythe Editor of bookplate works published in Australia in 2021.

Newsletter no. 64, March 2022, provides the President's report for the two pandemic years 2020 and 2021, the Auckland Ex Libris Society's 2021 report by Ian Thwaites, 'The bookplate art of DI Mitrokhin, 1921' by Jürgen Wegner, a note to mark Dianne Longley's winning of the Australian Bookplate Design Award 2021, and Bryan Welch on the bookplates of four great English actors.

Newsletter no. 63, December 2021, leads with 'Italian bookplates in the collection of the State Library of Victoria, by Christine Bell; other articles include "Petr Herel and his bookplates' by Jürgen Wegner, 'Phonoplates' by our UK member Bryan Welch, and a note by esteemed provenance authority David Pearson about the earliest English bookplate.

Newsletter no. 62, September 2021, features an article by Richard King on the linocut bookplates of Frank Marjason, the Editor's short essay on 'Some contributions of women to bookplates in Australia'; and two articles on unusual English bookplates by regular correspondents Michael Taffe (Ballarat) and Bryan Welch (London).

Supplement no. 4, The bookplates of Graham Cox, in A5 format of 20pp with 10 illustrations, was posted to all members as a gift from the Society. Copies are still available and may be ordered from the Editor at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at a cost of $20 including Australian/NZ postage.

Supplement no. 3, Index to issues 41-60, was sent out to members in July together with Newsletter no. 61.

Newsletter no. 61, June 2021, describes 'Two marine medallion bookplates'; a new, attractive rubber stamp bookplate by Aaron Reardon for Richard Heathcote; reports on the Society's May 'Show & tell' in Sydney and provides the 2020 bookplate bibliography.

Newsletter no. 60, March 2020

Newsletter no. 59, December 2020

Newsletter no. 58, September 2020

Newsletter no. 57, June 2020

Newsletter no. 56, March 2020

Newsletter no. 55, December 2019

Newsletter no. 54, September 2019

Newsletter no. 53, June 2019

Newsletter no. 52, March 2019

Newsletter no. 51, December 2018

Newsletter no. 50, September 2018

Newsletter no. 49, June 2018

Newsletter no. 48, March 2018

Newsletter no. 47, December 2017

Newsletter no. 46, September 2017

Newsletter no. 45, June 2017

Newsletter no. 44, March 2017

Newsletter no. 43, December 2016

Newsletter Supplement 2, the Index to Newsletters 21-40

Newsletter no. 42, September 2016

Newsletter no. 41, June 2016

Newsletter no. 40, March 2016

Newsletter no. 39, December 2015

Newsletter no. 38, September 2015

Newsletter no. 37, June 2015

Newsletter no. 36, March 2015

Newsletter no. 35, December 2014

Newsletter no. 34, September 2014

Newsletter no. 33, June 2014

Newsletter no. 32, March 2014

Newsletter no. 31, December 2013

Newsletter no. 30, September 2013

Newsletter no. 29, July 2013

Newsletter no. 28, March 2013

Newsletter no. 27, December 2012

Newsletter no. 26, September 2012

Newsletter no. 25, June 2012

Newsletter no. 24, March 2012

Newsletter no. 23, December 2011

Newsletter no. 22, September 2011

Newsletter Supplement, an index to the first 20 issues of the Newsletter plus a short illustrated article on 'Thematic bookplate collecting', was posted to members with Newsletter no. 21.

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