ex libris

American  

[eks lee-bris, lahy-] / ɛks ˈli brɪs, ˈlaɪ- /

1. from the library of (a phrase inscribed in or on a book before the name of the owner).

   Ex libris Jane Doe.

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noun

• ex libris
  plural

1. an inscription in or on a book, to indicate the owner; bookplate.

ex libris British  

/ ɛks ˈliːbrɪs /

adjective

1. from the collection or library of: frequently printed on bookplates

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noun

1. a bookplate bearing the owner's name, coat of arms, etc

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ex libris
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ex libris

First recorded in 1875–80, ex libris is from Latin ex lībrīs “out of the books (of), from the books (of)”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ex libris

Working slowly through the book, he found another clue: an ex libris showing that the Bible had once been owned by one Hans Plock, master of embroidery at the court of the Archbishop of Halle.

From Time Magazine Archive

Although the library included a proportion of desirable articles, many of the books were esteemed so worthless that the acquirers removed the ex libris, and left the rest behind them!

From The Book-Collector A General Survey of the Pursuit and of those who have engaged in it at Home and Abroad from the Earliest Period to the Present Time by William Carew Hazlitt

In the foreign department there is a perfectly inexhaustible store of material under a variety of heads: evidences of ownership and descent, biographical suggestions, historical links and side-lights, dated armorial ex libris.

From The Book-Collector A General Survey of the Pursuit and of those who have engaged in it at Home and Abroad from the Earliest Period to the Present Time by William Carew Hazlitt

Our copy is in the original full calf gold stamped binding, with the ex libris of James Maidment.

From Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Joseph Dommers Vehling

To distribute one's ex libris is inanely to destroy the only significance it has, that of indicating the past or present ownership of the volume in which it is placed.

From Ponkapog Papers by Thomas Bailey Aldrich