A UNIQUE exhibition has opened in Ballarat ahead of the world's richest bookplate design awards.
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The Australian Bookplate Design Award Exhibition is currently being held at Gallery on Sturt with more than 200 artworks on display.
"We have had some great exhibitions in our gallery but this one is certainly the largest ever and certainly for this year," Gallery on Sturt curator Leigh Tweedie said.
"I think one of the best things about this exhibition is that it brings together artists of all levels.
"This includes professional artists, emerging artists, art students and also secondary and primary school students.
"It also brings an awareness of the art of Ex Libris and may even encourage people to commission an artists to create a bookplate for their own books."
Bookplates are a tag or label that is pasted on the inside of a book that signifies ownership. The exhibition is a display of some of the best designs from national and international artists.
Historian, president of the Australian Bookplate Society and Trustee of the Keith Wingrove Memorial, Robert Littlewood, said the ancient art of bookplates has slowly gained popularity in Australia, with a chance for anyone to start their own collection of bookplates at the exhibition.
"There are many ways to look at them, you can look at them as decorative, or at the meaning behind them, or at the artist who has designed them," he said.
"We are encouraging people to start collecting, so everything will be for sale, starting as low as $5."
Mr Littlewood hopes the exhibition will encourage anyone interested in art to submit a bookplate in the lead up to awards.
Winners of The Keith Wingrove Bookplate Design Award will be presented part of a $15,000 prize pool.