We focus on British bookplates, but membership is worldwide. Some of our members are bookplate artists, and we maintain a list of designers in the British Isles who are currently willing to accept commissions (see Gallery - Artists). Many of our subscribers are not bookplate collectors at all, but have diverse interests in kindred fields of heraldry, genealogy, biography, bibliography, printing & engraving, and graphic art. They find the range of bookplate design, technique and history to be fascinating.

If you wish, before joining, to receive a sample copy of The Bookplate Journal for £7 (post free in UK) please write to the Society's Hon. Treasurer (details on contacts page).

Membership benefits
The annual subscription entitles members to the following benefits:

1. The Bookplate Journal (ISSN: 0264—3693) commenced in 2003 its 2nd Series in enlarged format. It is now a 72-page journal published in Spring and Autumn each year.

2. The Bookplate Society Newsletter (ISSN: 0309—7935) appears twice a year in Summer and Winter. It gives news of meetings, auction lists, membership changes, sales and wants, and items of interest not covered in the Bookplate Journal. Occasionally there is an extra bonus - our June 2003 Newsletter included an original print of C.W. Sherborn's armorial bookplate for Montagu Knight of Chawton, and with our December 2005 Newsletter we were pleased to be able to distribute originals of J.A.C. Harrison's fine seal armorial for Herbert Walter Plews Harrison. With our June 2008 Newsletter each subscriber received an original bookplates of Sir William Forbes Bart. of Pitsligo, dating from the 1790s and illustrated in Lee and Campbell's Scottish Bookplates.

3. Members Book In the past, subscribers have received a members book every year. For 2002 this was John Blatchly's Bookplates of George Wolfe Plank. In succeeding years this was followed by two books by Brian North Lee: Some Bookplates of Heralds, and Some Bookplates of Church of England Parochial and Cathedral Libraries. For 2005 the subject of our book was Bookplates in the Trophy Style, by Paul Latcham, which provided an interesting view of the ex-libris of military men. We have an ongoing plan to publish studies of the work of artists, and to cover bookplate history by styles, themes and by different areas of the British Isles, such as the book by Sir Ilay Campbell and Brian Lee on Scottish Bookplates, our members' book for 2006 and still available for purchase by non-members. There came a point at which, in order to avoid any increase in the £30 UK subscription, we decided to issue books once every two years, commencing with the book for 2007/8, but this does not preclude the provision of bonus items from time to time. Our 2007/8 book was John Blatchly's East Anglian Ex-Libris, and for 2009/10 we secured copies of Karen Livingstone's The Bookplates and Badges of C.F.A. Voysey, Architect and Designer of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Our latest publication, by Colin Lattimore, was about the bookplate work of Miss C Helard, wife of author and heraldic authority Arthur Fox-Davies. This was sent to members for the two years 2011 and 2012. For the single year 2013, we acquired and distributed to members, the back stock of Brian North Lee's British Royal Bookplates. Another book by Colin Lattimore, on bookplates of British dukes, entitled Strawberry Leaves, is in preparation for issue mid-2016 in respect of the two years 2014 and 2015. Anyone joining or leaving halfway through the two year period pays £10 extra in order to receive the book. Books now in the pipeline are mentioned on the Projects page.