The History of Bookmarks

The Fascinating Story of The Little Piece of Paper That Held Your Place

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By Steve
January 24, 2022
The History of Bookmarks

A bookmark manager is typically for computers, but it my surprise you but bookmarks are not typical for browsing the internet. Even way before computers and the internet were invested, people used to read books. And some of them even wrote books.

How were bookmarks invented?

One of the most often told stories about how bookmarks were created is that they were invented by George Washington. According to this story, the bookish George while taking a walk while watching his troops in the field discovered that he could make a quick little shortcut to the soldiers, while keeping a good eye on them.

He took a piece of paper and pasted some thin strips of his uniform together to make it into a makeshift folding notebook. This thin paper, called “breeches” in that day, would be used as a bookmark so that people could return to a place they had previously been.

The Pre-Internet Era: The Bookmark Continues

Books were pretty much the only way to read a lot in the old days. If you didn’t like the book, you may simply not finish it. Books were so expensive and thus most people who had the money for a book simply bought the whole series. That meant they needed to stick to one book in order to continue. So if you had to leave the library, the library would charge you a big sum of money and also if you borrowed a book, you must return the book back on time.

Once books started to become digital, there was a need for bookmarks. And back then people used real paper to put their bookmarks in. The bookmark was the small piece of paper that was attached to the book. It served two purposes. First, you could take it with you and put it where you needed it.

The Internet Evolves: Bookmarks Take To The Web

When you were learning to navigate the early days of the Internet, bookmarking was a way of bookmarking. Everyone had to have their own bookmark to carry and bookmark folders to make and organize the bookmarks they acquired.

So, they used bookmarks in folders and folders that were in the bookmarks folders.

There was no such thing as bookmark manager or bookmarks manager or bookmarklet or mini bookmarklets.

It used to be cumbersome to access your bookmarks and browsing to these folders was not a case of just picking a folder and putting the bookmarks in. You had to find it again, edit the name and type it, then insert the code and upload it to the folder.

If you wanted to add an RSS icon, you had to put the code inside the folder as well.

Today and Beyond: Where Are Bookmarks Headed?

With the evolution of books and the internet, bookmarks are quite rare to find. They are quite a vital part of the book. Bookmarks may change with the times, but a book must be opened with one.

Many people prefer looking back at an interesting book by looking at the bookmark.

Well, this is all about how the little bookmark came to be.

The Little Piece of Paper That Held Your Place

History of bookmarks is very interesting. A lot of things have changed over the time. But the interesting fact about the bookmarks is that they have changed in many ways.

For some time, people used to bookmark an important point in the book by writing it in the book or an additional note on the book itself. But many consider this to be an obsolete activity.

Bottom line

If you didn't know that, it’s probably because you never really tried reading a book. But don’t worry, you still have plenty of time to do so!

It's not the way that books are being distributed. If we go back a little in time, we remember reading something called a binder.

Now, when the binder was invented, some people still didn't have a pen, and the book that was being used at the time had no glue. Therefore, people attached paper to the page, which was used as a bookmark.

As time went by, people realized that the writing might fall out of the book, so they began attaching tiny pieces of paper.

Also, the binder started losing some of its value because people found books that were so old, they didn't have a plastic book cover for them, so they could never be put back in circulation.