Sometimes, you just don’t have a bookmark handy. Usually, I’ll just grab whatever flat item is closest and tuck it between the pages to mark my spot: receipts, business cards, old envelopes. Recently, a very unique bookmark was turned in with one of our books: a nicotine patch.
I hope whoever this belonged to was able to kick the habit without this one patch!
For more stories about unusual bookmarks, check out this article about what other librarians have found in their books. (Bacon? Cheese? Chicken legs?????) You may also want to visit Forgotten Bookmarks, a site dedicated to the strange and beautiful ephemera found in an antiquarian bookseller’s books.