Today I had the pleasure of speaking to Lauren Easum, co-founder of the Parisian bookplate company Ex-Libris. Along with her business partner, Igor Telinge, Lauren has opened Ex-Libris Paris with the intention of bringing tradition back to life, and offering bibliophiles a way to imprint their books with their names & heritage.

In today’s episode, Lauren and I cover a wide range of topics – the history of bookplates, or ex-libris stamps as we sometimes refer to them, what makes a good bookplate, how they got the idea from a centuries-old discovery in the cellar of a Parisian townhouse, and the connection between bookplates and erotica. It was such an interesting conversation, and I learned a lot about the history of this object – from armorial origins, the exclusive purview of the social elite, to a democratised artform anyone can enjoy.

Lauren’s favourite book that I’ve never heard of was Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman, by Stefan Zweig (1932), which is a psychological portrait of the famous French queen.

The best book that she has read in the last 12 months is Bel-ami, by Guy de Maupassant (1885) – which follows a charming and ambitious man confronted with the sordidity and corruptness of belle epoque Paris.

The book she would take to a desert island is Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing, by René Daumal (1952), a surrealist ‘cult classic’ which tells the allegorical story of an expedition to an elusive mountain.

Finally, the book that changed her mind was Sophie’s World, by Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder (1991), which follows teenage Sophie as she is introduced to the world of philosophy.

Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at ⁠⁠@litwithcharles⁠⁠. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!