Bookmarks and notecards

by Anton Zuiker on August 20, 2026

Bookmarks I've collected through the years.

I stopped into my local bookseller, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, to pick up my latest special order (Do Blue: Water, waves, and wellbeing, and Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia). As usual, right there on the counter was the jar of free bookmarks, and Flyleaf’s are one of the best I’ve collected in 40 years, perfect size and paper weight, color and text not distracting when I open to where I have left off in whatever book I’m currently reading.

A few years ago, I saw that Evan Calkins and his partners at Hoban Press had printed bookmarks of their own. I remembered that back in January when I determined I would try to be a better gift giver this year. Since I like giving books as gifts, I figured I could get my own bookmarks printed and then include one with each gift.

So, I wrote a poem of gratitude (to the writers and others who educate and entertain us), sketched a design for a bookmark, and worked with Evan to adjust the Zuiker Chronicles logo for the vintage letterpress that he uses to print business cards and stationery. Now I have a big stack of quality bookmarks to give away.

Along with the bookmarks, I had Evan make a stack of heavy notecards with just the turtle printed as a blind impression; that is, no ink and just the shape of the logomark pressed into the heavy paper. This makes for a plain white card with the most subtle of marks. I love it, though when it comes time to reprint I’ll get it in one color to make it pop. I’ve been writing notes to friends and family, and to colleagues I meet for coffee.

Today I got this email from one of those colleagues:

Thank you for your kind handwritten note—an art form I love and wish more people would keep alive.

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