A sign of ownership in the form of a coat of arms, seal or signature has been known among the nobility and clerics for century. The precondition of its development was the rapid emergence of Estonian intellectuals, book culture and fine arts at the end of 19th century.
Today we regard the first Estonian ex libris to be an ink drawing by Kristjan Raud, a prominent Estonian artist, which he made for his brother Paul in 1900.
During the first decades of this century the ex libris did not yet develop into an independent from of graphic art. The change came in the 1920s when the artistic quality of graphics improved remarkably, and its popularity increased as a result of national art education and close ties with many European countries. In 1935, the 400th anniversary of the first book in Estonian, a catechism by Wanradt and Koell, was celebrated. This event provided inspiration for the further development of the art of ex libris.
Besides the greatest masters of Estonian graphics, Kristjan Raud and Eduard Wiiralt, other artists like Günther Reindorff, Ado Vabbe, Märt Laarman, Hando Mugasto and Arkadio Laigo also produced works of remarkable quality.At that time,the woodcut was widely used in contemporary book illustration, and this technique also became prevalent in the art of ex libris. An extraordinary standard of woodcuts was achieved by Richard Kaljo. Besides his chef d`œuvre, illustrations to the collected works of Shakespeare, his production includes hundreds of high quality ex libris.
Alongside the masters of the woodcut ( Kaljo, Laigo, Mugasto, Kollom ) a number of artists emerged in Estonian graphics who preferred intaglio techniques, such as etching, dry point, mezzotint, aquatint, and lithography, a flatbed printing technique.
Time has ennobled the content and form of the exlibris. The simple proprieto`s sign in a book has developed into a highly valued genre of graphic arts. Today the most widely known Estonian masters of the ex libris are Evald Okas, Vive Tolli, Silvi Väljal and Lembit Lõhmus, to name just a few.

Martti Soosaar