Canis lupus irremotus libri vestigium

I know part of that title is correct because I copied it directly from the bookmark to the left, which features the Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf (canis lupus irremotus). As for libri vestigium, I was shooting for bookmark. Libri starts off in the right direction, but vestigium probably wobbled off course into the archaic definition of footprint or track. Close enough for bibliophemera concerns, eh?

Because of Lauren's remarks about my blogs recently, I thought a bookmark was in order for my next post as a nod of the bloggin' cap to her and BiblioBuffet. The kind words are very much appreciated.

I found this bookmark a few days ago in a copy of Platte River, by Rick Bass. A more appropriate book by Bass to shelter this bookmark would have been The Ninemile Wolves, his essay on the reintroduction of wolves into the Ninemile valley of northwest Montana. But because of that book and his other works, such as The New Wolves, The Lost Grizzlies, and Winter: Notes from Montana (my favorite), I think the Defenders of Wildlife, would be happy to have their bookmark reside in any of Mr. Bass' books.

The artist who did the beautiful wolf drawing is Mark Maglio. His art work has graced other fundraising items for wildlife preservation organizations, according to this site for his book project. There, you can see other examples of the illustrative technique (pen and ink "stiple") it appears he used for this bookmark. These type of illustrations can take up to 100 hours to complete.

This bookmark appears to be on the "endangered" list, as I can't find it anywhere on the Defenders of Wildlife site. So for that reason, as well as the extraordinary talents of the artist and the purpose behind the organization that published his work, I think I'll do a little preservation work of my own and retire this bookmark from active duty. It now has protected status in my bibliophemera collection.

Comments

  1. LaurenJanuary 20, 2009 at 2:01 PM

    You deserved the kind words, CW. Your blogs are fabulous. I not only learn from you but I have a great time doing it.

    Best,

    Lauren

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chuck WhitingJanuary 20, 2009 at 9:56 PM

    Thanks once more. Coming from a writer of your strength and caliber, I'm very flattered. Now I need to find another bookmark to write about... ;o)

    ReplyDelete

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