"Please use a bookmark..."

... this is what I tell someone I'm lending a book to. Usually, I would also provide the person with a bookmark from the many that I have. I can't stand it when a person folds the corner of a page ( a dog-eared page) to mark where he has stopped reading. It shows to me that the person doesn't love books. Incidentally, it also bugs me when anyone flips carelessly through a book, especially a coffee-table book, causing the pages to fold or crumple.

There is more to a bookmark than you can imagine. It has a long history, going back to ancient times although the earliest examples found have been from the medieval ages. Just like stamps, coins, fridge magnets and a hundred and one other things, bookmarks are being collected as a hobby. To keep the hobby manageable, collectors are advised to focus on a theme, such as leather bookmarks, advertising bookmarks or those from a particular period. One collector in Lithuania gets bookmarks from around the world, including Malaysia. Another goes for antique and vintage bookmarks because of their high quality.

There's really no reason not to have a bookmark to use with your book. Bookshops give them away for free. You can easily recycle those greeting cards in your drawer into bookmarks just by cutting the prettier parts into long rectangles. If you don't have cards, you would surely have used envelopes - just snip off the corners and you would get instant bookmarks!

A much nicer version, which takes a bit more work, is an origami bookmark.

If there are 50 ways to leave your lover, there are 50+ ways to make your own bookmarks - the crafts-inclined can do it with fabric scraps, gauge wire, ribbons, beads, elastic cording and even paper clips. So... there really is no reason whatsoever for someone to tell you, "Please use a bookmark."