h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The article advocates leaving 'about a third, but no more than a couple of inches' sticking out of the book. I have found that the bookmark can become damaged if I leave as much as this sticking out. I have a lot of bookmarks made of leather, and the worst that can happen to these is that they get bent. Eventually they can be flattened out. However, I also have a lot of bookmarks made of card or plastic. Bending these causes more permanent damage, and can ruin the bookmark. I try to ensure that the most I leave sticking out of a book is a couple of *centimeters* - provided that the book is long enough to allow this.

I agree. Normally I don't leave the bookmark sticking out of the book at all (unless they are designed to do so). I just put them between the pages and it should be pretty easy to find afterwards. Have been collecting bookmarks for some time... trying to make my collection catch up with my book collection - it'll happen sometime!!!

Great entry!!!

I often (but not always) buy bookmarks when I visit a 'place of interest'. These are usually leather. I also have a lot of the 'paper-clip' type that fit over the top of the page, most of which are 'golden' (probably brass) or 'silver'. The main problem I have is storing the bookmarks so they're easy to find when I want one. I don't leave them in the books because, like you, my bookmark collection is not as big as my book collection. I also don't like leaving the 'paper-clip' bookmarks in books for long periods, because they can damage the pages.

When I pick a bookmark for a book, I try to make the design of the bookmark suit subject the book I am reading. For example, I have 'Whitby Abbey' for Dracula, 'Coventry Cathedral' for Pilgrim's Progress, two 'Egyptian' bookmarks for my books on Egypt. I can't always do it, though. Right now, I'm using an RNLI bookmark in one of my Sharpe books. I haven't got any bookmarks that suggest 'military' or 'Georgian'.

I usually use a scrap of paper. Many manufactured bookmarks are laminated card. Because of the laminate, they are slippy and tend to fall out of the book (especially hardbacks). Scraps of paper don't look that nice, but they stay where they're put and I'm not going to weep if they become damaged or lost.

TRiG.

If you want a bookmark that won't fall out, try a piece of Post-It paper. You can buy Post-Its that were designed to go on the edge of pages, or you can tear a piece off a 'note'. One 'note' should last as long as it takes you to read the book.

Went camping last week. We visted 3 'places of interest' - Workhouse, Hardwick Hall and Calke Abbey. The Workhouse didn't have any souvenir bookmarks , but I managed to get 4 from the other places - 2 leather ones from Hardwick (one from the Old Hall and one from the 'New' Hall), and 2 from Calke Abbey (one leather, one plastic). The leather one from Hardwick Old Hall is ideal for paperback books because it's shorter than most leather bookmarks. The plastic one from Calke Abbey is also shorter than the leather bookmark. Why two from the same place? Well, the leather bookmark from Calke Abbey has the usual 'front of building' picture. The plastic one shows a variety of different items in a 'building', and that's what Calke Abbey is about - a weird and wonderful assortment of things collected by one family over a long period.