Festoon Bookplates ☜ 

After discovering several of these gummed ex libris bookplates in a row, I’ve become mildly obsessed with them and their origin. With a bit of sleuthing, I discovered that they were produced by the Festoon Company in the 1970s. From what little I’ve been able to learn, Festoon (occasionally referred to as Festoon Gummell) was a small American stationery brand headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin. The illustrator here is John Hitesman, best known for his Good Sports poster series, which humorously depicted leisure hobbies such as dating, bowling, skiing, hunting, and bird watching. (Thank you for the tip, Russell!)