Ex libris is a Latin phrase that literally means, from the books, ie book among books from a public library or private. A bookplate is a property mark usually consists of a stamp, tag or label that is often placed on the back of the cover or cover of a book, which contains the name of the copy or proprietary library owner.

The name of the owner is usually preceded by the Latin expression bookplates, although we can find variants (p. Eg. "I'm from ..." or similar). In addition to the legend that credits the ownership of the book to a personal or institutional library, usually the ex libris also exhibits some image. The oldest examples employ coats of arms; subsequently predominate images of allegorical or symbolic content (often accompanied by a slogan). The types of images has diversified a lot: for example abound related to the profession, business, craft or hobby of the owner, are also a lot of erotic content (which usually indicates the copy belonging to a company specialized in the thematic collection ) of "macabre" (with skeletons or skulls alluding to the passage of time and death), monograms, etc. topic They are also common reasons related to the world of books and libraries.