A bookplate is a piece of decorated paper which is stuck in the front of a book and on which the owner's name is printed or written. a decorated piece of paper with your name on it, that you stick in the front of your books. Label with a printed design pasted inside the front cover of a book to identify its owner. It probably originated in Germany in the mid-15th century; the earliest extant dated bookplate (1516) is German. The earliest American example is dated 1749. Bookplate designs include portraits, views of libraries, and landscapes, as well as symbols of the owner's interests or occupation (e.g., military trophies, palettes), and, toward the end of the 19th century, nude figures
used, most often on the pastedown, to identify the ownership of a book and especially useful in establishing earlier ownership Finely produced bookplates collectable in their own right
A book owner's identification label which is usually printed, has a distinctive design, and is usually pasted to the inside front cover of a book; called also ex libris