yoyo, nice but not very practical have been the finds of pressed flowers. Yellowing with no smell left, makes me wonder if the reader had the book outdoors on a summer's day.

Anything is better than 'dog-ears' where the corner of a page has been turned down. ;-(

Dog-ears bother me terribly, and I've difficulty understanding why readers are so lazy as to mar a perfectly good book that others might enjoy.

I have found four-leaved clovers in old books, as markers, believed to have been "good luck" tokens. In my grandmother's things, I found some old handmade bookmarks. These were thick paper, with holes, into which were woven colored threads to make a nice pattern. I do not know enough about needlepoint, etc. to label them as such. But it is my understanding that these handmade bookmarks were common in the 1800's and early 1900's as gifts for friends.

I inherited small old Catholic Bibles, in which religious drawings of saints were used as bookmarks.

I found a letter written in 1944, telling about their sudden move to Minot, ND, and having to wash with a scrub board as she couldn't find anyone to do her laundry.

Woodnymph, you made me smile. My mother used to press four-leaf clovers in her books.

Once found an ancient pressed rose from a bunch my daughter had given me when my pet died.

I found a picture postcard from the French Lick, Indiana, resort in the early 1900s sent by the owner of an old copy of The Shepherd of the Hills by Harold Wright that I paid $1.00 for at an auction. The book owner was the aunt of one of my aunts by marriage.

I recently discovered a ticket for a football match in 1992 between Arsenal and Southampton in one of my old books. I actually attended that match - and it was the last one before the old North Bank standing terrace was demolished. I must have just used the ticket as a bookmark and forgotten I'd left it there.

I'm very pleased to have the ticket again as a souvenir!

Some of my Booker's have got contemporary reviews of the books clipped from newspapers - which I think is a nice thing to have.

PS - I assume you've all seen this lovely website.

http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com/

Martin, your post gave me pause... you mentioned your "Booker's", which of course, having "known" you for years, I know to what you are referring.... but my dog's name is Booker.

I found shopping lists, recipes, old postcards, and forgotten school photos. Once, I found an unused plane ticket to Tokyo. (unfortunately, it was past the date of the flight.)

PAM

I found a personal letter and a literary newsletter from the 1950s in a library book once, and have found my share of photos, postcards and boarding passes (as well as some actual bookmarks), but the oddest (and most disgusting) bookmark I have found was a used hormone patch. It even had hairs on it. Ugh!

Gagging as I read that one.