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News from the German Museum of Books and Writing

View of an illuminated display case in the exhibition of the German Museum of Books and Writing

Book bags – The collection of publisher Mark Lehmstedt

Three stacks of different book bags, including: One from the comic magazine "Mosaik" and one from the bookshop "Shakespeare and Company". Three stacks of different book bags, including: One from the comic magazine "Mosaik" and one from the bookshop "Shakespeare and Company".

For more than two decades, the Leipzig publisher and bibliographer Mark Lehmstedt has been collecting all kinds of bags that are dedicated in some way to the world of books. In in February 2021 he presents his collection of around 3,000 book bags to the German Museum of Books and Writing. (Photo: PUNCTUM, Bertram Kober)

No matter whether they are made of paper, plastic, or linen, brand-new or used, beautiful or ugly, these bags are all testimonies of a literary culture that, at the beginning of the 21st century, has been increasingly under pressure. Items like these, which most people carelessly discard and even the manufacturers have never kept, are of great interest for an archaeology of the present. The book bags are a reminder of long-lost book dealers and publishers and illustrate the transition from the analogue to the digital age, while the switch from plastic to fabric also reflects the shift towards a sustainability-conscious society. Last but not least, they are marvellous testimonies to design development and product advertising.

Book bags with their imprints have consequently turned out to be a barometer of the state of an entire industry. Originally produced as consumables, it is only with the passage of time that they have acquired the status of items of cultural heritage that can be trusted to make general statements about historical developments.

The collection is accompanied by a publication:
Mark Lehmstedt: Buchtüten. Werbung für das Buch, Leipzig: Lehmstedt Verlag, 2021. 120 Seiten mit 580 farbigen Abbildungen, ISBN 978-3-95797-125-8

A trade fair visitor with a red book bag on her arm - a quote by Marcel Reich-Ranicki is printed on the bag Photo: DNB, Christine Hartmann

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Book bag with a quote from Marcel Reich-Ranicki "Literature knows only two themes: Love and death. The rest is rubbish!"

Pagination

Pagination

Content

  1. Lessons learned at the museum – the digital programme of the German Museum of Books and Writing
  2. Digital access to the St. Elizabeth manuscript
  3. Unique image sources for front-line book shops
  4. KI-Box
  5. Information – a raw material? Data fuelling station at the German Museum of Books and Writing
  6. Books in the third dimension - Museum acquires a collection of kinetic books
  7. KlingKlang – sounds from media history
  8. Book bags – The collection of publisher Mark Lehmstedt
  9. A family of bookbinders in Germany and Europe – additions to the Röllig estate
  10. Pre-mortem legacy from Hans Ticha
  11. Open! Stories from the German Museum of Books and Writing
  12. 75 years on... digitisation project “Digital Historic Book Collection”

Last changes: 22.04.2021
Short-URL: https://www.dnb.de/dbsmnews

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