The graphic arts ephemera collection contains over 1,600 booksellers’ and binders’ labels.

In the Ephemera Collection

The graphic arts ephemera collection contains over 1,600 booksellers’ and binders’ labels, arranged alphabetically. These small labels were pasted inside books by binders and booksellers to advertise their work.

In Books

While many books in the AAS collection have booksellers’ labels, fewer than 1,000 have been noted in catalog records.

General catalog records for fewer than 500 books include the genre term binders tickets, indicating a ticket is adhered in the book. The binder’s name is identified in the catalog record.

Access

A alphabetized list of the booksellers’ and bookbinders’ labels housed in the ephemera collection is available in a name list, and an inventory of the collection (updated summer 2021) is available as an Excel spreadsheet.

A number of these labels were reproduced in “Book Trade Labels at the American Antiquarian Society” in volume 82 of the Proceedings (1972) with a brief introductory note by Marcus A. McCorison.

This collection has not been digitized.