CHENNAI: The world over, February 25 is celebrated as Bookmark Day to put the spotlight on every reader’s silent companion. While several museums and libraries in North America, Europe and Australia have been commemorating the day with workshops, exhibitions and competitions, Chennai’s DakshinaChitra Museum is set to host a first-of-its-kind event to mark the occasion.
INTACH Tamil Nadu State Chapter and DakshinaChitra Museum and Library will be having an anecdote- filled, illustrated lecture on bookmarks their history, art and socio-cultural significance — by Dr S Suresh, Archaeology and Museum Management Consultant and Tamil Nadu Stat e Convener, INTACH. Suresh’s accidental tryst with his first bookmark dates back to 1989, when he stumbled upon one enclosed in an old book from his ancestral library.
“My grandfather ran a personal, non-profit library in his hometown Pudukottai and it used to be frequented by re s earch students and scholars. Soon after his demise, the library was safeguarded by my father. Growing up, I discovered many such bookmarks that were kept inside the books by my grandfather and father while cleaning the racks and discarding the old books in tatters. That sparked the interest in the early stages,” narrates Suresh, who presently runs the library at his house.
From near and far
The archaeologist will be displaying 35-40 rare bookmarks from his collection with the hope that it will attract the attention of people as well as arouse academic curiosity. These are handpicked by him from the US, UK, France, Malaysia, Singapore and Uganda. “I travelled extensively as a student, research scholar and as an archaeologist. The list comprises bamboo bookmarks from Malaysia, stained glass bookmarks from Singapore, sandalwood and silk bookmarks from India, recycled glass bottle bookmarks from Uganda and more.
The first bookmark I collected outside India was a pressed flower bookmark from the Britain Museum. It was a clean piece of paper pressed and sealed with European flowers. Another prized possession is a bookmark featuring latticework from a wooden window of a museum in the US,” he elaborates. The bookmarks are relatively easier to preserve when compared to books, says Suresh who maintains an exclusive shelf at his home for bookmarks.
This way, the bookmarks are sparingly used to enhance their lifespan. To keep the session engaging and informative, he will be throwing light on the 2,000-year-old history of bookmarks. “One of the first surviving bookmarks, made out of parchment, is from Egypt. It’s currently found at a library in Ireland. The set of bookmarks that came in the last century during the reign of Queen Victoria are also popular.
Some of the earliest bookmarks were used in religious books, predominantly the Bible, to mark pages. Silk thread bookmarks were commonly found in books. At one time, many books had two such bookmarks attached to them. There’s a jovial story that these promoted marital harmony as both the husband and wife were interested in reading the novel. Both might stop at different points to come back to the book. So two books were made to keep pace with it on different pages,” shares Suresh.
Of potential and prospects
Emphasising the socio-cultural significance of bookmarks, he points out, “My job is such that most of the conferences take place in a library or a museum that usually have a book or gift shop set up inside them. They sell bookmarks carrying the logo or designs featuring architectural elements inspired by the museum or local monuments to promote the country’s heritage as well as produce revenue. In some museums abroad, bookmarks are even given as tickets.
The National Museum in New Delhi is the only one that follows a similar concept. The number and quality of bookmarks made in India do not match those made in developed countries. By producing bookmarks, we can generate valuable revenue. Every museum must take the initiative to produce and start selling bookmarks. There’s no dearth of designs considering the diversity our country has to offer, making it a great souvenir.” It pinches Suresh that unlike clubs for philatelists or numismatics, there’s no dedicated community for collectors of bookmarks.
“To my knowledge, we’ve never celebrated any event for World Bookmark Day in India. There’s an annual international competition in North America where bookmark collectors from all over the world come forward and display their collection. They also pledge bookmarks that they wish to exchange with others. The organisers pick up the winner by raffle. The winner gets all the bookmarks that are pledged by others. The runnerup gets the ones pledged by the winner. I would be happy if we have a bookmark club someday,” says Suresh hopefully. To spread the word, Suresh has invited members from the Madras Book Club to take part in the exhibition. He hopes it will inspire youngsters to take this up as a serious hobby.
Bookmark this day
On World Bookmark Day, today, archaeologist Dr S Suresh will be displaying 35-40 rare bookmarks from his personal collection of over 300 bookmarks and 22,000 books, at DakshinaChitra Musuem
from 11.30 am to 5 pm