Bookmarking - an introduction

One thing I prefer in visiting physical bookstores over the internet variety are the bookmarks. Enter a random store in a random country in a random town and you can find the official store bookmark, either advertising local events, providing information (store hours, locations, etc.), or just random words of wisdom. Even my favorite of booksellers on the internet have so far failed to indulge my obsession.

No longer. The Book Depository is calling for my money for numerous reasons (free international shipping, anyone?), but now there's one more reason on the list urging me to take advantage of their deals - the bookmark competition. Hundreds of very cool looking bookmarks were submitted, with twenty intriguing and varied winners. Of the winners, my favorites are probably Ricardo Reis' and Damien Kavanagh's - both bookmarks would be excellent additions to my collection. Among those that didn't win, a few other great ones (and some other ones):

As a longtime appreciator of bookmarks and a more recent active collector, looking at these charming artistic displays made me ponder the bookmarks I already have, culminating in the following: next week will start a running feature of various bookmarks in my possession (or ones I encounter). While I know mine won't have the charm the Book Depository's entries have, I know there are some funny stories behind them and a couple of real beauties. And even though the Book Depository doesn't exist in the "real" world, it's going to be providing me with tangible evidence of my purchases there, via my collection. Kudos for that.