bookplate

noun

book·​plate ˈbu̇k-ˌplāt 

: a book owner's identification label that is usually pasted to the inside front cover of a book

Examples of bookplate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After the delivery person dropped off the package, Joely Day, an editor, opened it up to reveal stacks of rectangular bookplates signed by Fosse in a spidery hand, in varying densities of ink. —Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 1 July 2024

In 1742, Franklin repeatedly suspended work on Pamela to print lottery tickets, licenses for peddlers and public houses, sheriff’s warrants, naval certificates, soap wrappers, medical cures, bookplates for libraries, 1,000 hat bills, Irish Society tickets, and thousands of advertisements. —Adam Smyth, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2024

Items range in size and price from Ex Libris bookplates to original 18th-century maps. —Laura Itzkowitz, Vogue, 25 Mar. 2024

The artist Robert Pruitt designed an ex libris bookplate for Jay-Z’s private library on Black culture and society. —Sarah Medford, WSJ, 4 Mar. 2021

Members got a booklet, an enamel badge imprinted with the Puffin logo, and a set of bookplates. —Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 2 June 2023

Each contains her bookplate. —Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2022

Details include a Tom Ford signed bookplate. —Laurie Brookins, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Dec. 2021

These are his personal copies of his famous works with his [personal] bookplate [a line drawing of a stirrup] inside, and there’s only one of each. —Tommy Cummings, Dallas News, 9 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1791, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bookplate

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate
• castrate

Kids Definition

bookplate

noun

book·​plate ˈbu̇k-ˌplāt 

: a label pasted inside a book to show who owns it