Caxton Club

Caxton Club

Formation	January 26, 1895; 129 years ago (1895-01-26)[1]
Type	Social club
Purpose	To promote the book arts and the history of the book
Headquarters	60 W. Walton St., Chicago, Illinois
Location	Chicago, Illinois
President	Sarah M. Pritchard[2]
Main organ	Caxtonian
Website	www.caxtonclub.org

The Caxton Club is a private social club and bibliophilic society founded in Chicago in 1895 to promote the book arts and the history of the book. To further its goals, the club holds monthly (September through June) dinner meetings and luncheons, sponsors bibliophile events (often in collaboration with the Newberry Library and with other regional institutions) and exhibitions, and publishes books, exhibition catalogs, and a monthly journal, The Caxtonian.^[3] The Caxton Club is a member club of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies.^[4]

History

The Caxton Club was founded in 1895 by a group of fifteen bibliophiles to support the publication of fine books in the style of the then-new Arts and Crafts Movement.^[5] The club's name honors the fifteenth-century English printer William Caxton.^[6] The founders included John Vance Cheney, Edward E. Ayer, Martin A. Ryerson, James Ellsworth, Charles L. Hutchinson, and Washington Irving Way and Chauncey L. Williams (of Way & Williams).^[7]

In 1976, women began to be admitted as members of the Caxton Club, marking a departure from the common practice in gentlemen's clubs of excluding women before that era.^[8] Mary Beth Beal is notable for being the Caxton Club’s first female President in 1985-1986.^[9]

In 1995 the Caxton Club centenary was celebrated with publication of The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago ^[10] which has been characterized as a "significant addition to the history of American bibliophily."^[11]

The Club published several fine editions in partnership with the Lakeside Press of Chicago.^[12]

The Club awards scholarships and grants to students and researchers in the book arts.^[13]

Notable members

Sydney E. Berger—educator, librarian, rare books expert Thomas Kimball Brooker - book collector, businessman Gwendolyn Brooks – author, poet Francis Fisher Browne – editor[14] Lee Pierce Butler – bibliographer, librarian, professor[15] Michèle V. Cloonan - librarian, professor John Y. Cole - founding director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress Charles Deering - businessman, art collector, philanthropist Robert B. Downs - librarian, author[16] Alexander Wilson Drake – artist, collector, critic[17] James Ellsworth – banker, industrialist[18] Charles Lang Freer – art collector, industrialist, philanthropist[19] Michael Gorman – librarian Frederic Goudy - printer, artist and type designer[20] Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden – book collector and scholar[21] Nancy Gwinn - director Smithsonian Libraries[22] Theodore Wesley Koch - librarian, translator[23]

Henry Eduard Legler – activist, librarian[24] Frank Orren Lowden – 25th governor of Illinois, United States representative IL, candidate Republican presidential nominations 1920, 1928 Beverly Lynch - librarian[25] William Mulliken – Olympic swimmer Audrey Niffenegger – author and artist Stanley Pargellis - Director of the Newberry Library, 1942 to 1962 Lawrence Clark Powell -librarian Sarah M. Pritchard – librarian [26] Carl B. Roden – librarian[27] Ralph Fletcher Seymour – artist, author, publisher[28] David Spadafora - historian, President, Newberry Library[29] Vincent Starrett – author and newspaperman Peggy Sullivan - library historian, librarian[30] Robert Wedgeworth – librarian and executive Frank Lloyd Wright – architect[31]

Publications

In the course of its history, the Caxton Club has published formal publications and other printed pieces. These include The French Bookbinders of the Eighteenth Century,^[32] The Cowboy in American Literature by J. Frank Dobie, ^[33] Tales for Bibliophiles.^[34] and Imaginary Books and Libraries.^[35]

A complete listing of the publications is available here: club’s publications.

See also

• List of American gentlemen's clubs
• Books in the United States

References

1. "The Caxton Club". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 8, 1895.
2. "Officers". Caxton Club. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
3. Caxton Club. (2024). https://www.caxtonclub.org/. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
4. "Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies Member Clubs". Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
5. Gehl, Paul. "Book Arts". Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
6. Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. xiii.
7. Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. 14-15
8. Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. 87-88.
9. Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. 145.
10. Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club.
11. Holzenberg, Eric J. “The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Frank J. Piehl, Bruce McKittrick.” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 90, no. 3 (1996): 379–81.
12. Hutner, Martin (2004). A Century for the Century: Fine Printed Books from 1900 to 1999. Grolier Club. ISBN 9781567922202., p. XXXVII
13. "Caxton Club - Grants".
14. Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1908). Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States: 1908–1909 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 239. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
15. Richardson, John (February 2000). "Butler, Lee Pierce". American National Biography Online. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
16. "Robert B. Downs, 87, Librarian and Author". The New York Times. 26 February 1991.
17. Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1908). Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States: 1908–1909 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 530. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
18. Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1908). Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States: 1908–1909 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 579. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
19. Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1908). Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States: 1908–1909 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 669. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
20. Shaw, Paul. "An appreciation of Frederic W. Goudy as a type designer". Retrieved July 12, 2015.
21. The Caxton Club Yearbook 1965 104, and Yearbook 1971 Supplement
22. Schreyer, Alice."In Memoriam: Nancy Elizabeth Gwinn." The Caxtonian 32 (September/October 2024): 9.
23. Northwestern Libraries. (2018). Koch, Theodore Wesley, 1871-1941. Northwestern University. https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/agents/people/2141. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
24. The Caxton Club Year Book 1971 112
25. "Lynch, Beverly P. (1936-) - The American Library Association Archives". archives.library.illinois.edu.
26. Dean of Libraries Sarah Pritchard plans to retire in 2022 Longtime dean led transformation of library services Northwestern Now, October 13, 2021.
27. The Caxton Club Yearbook 1971 115
28. Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1908). Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States: 1908–1909 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 1699. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
29. Johnson, Steve (June 14, 2017). "The Newberry Library set to undergo $11 million renovation". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
30. "Peggy Sullivan Named ALA Honorary Member in 2008. No. 7.4.2008. 110". Librarian. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012.
31. Twombly, Robert (1979). Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture. New York: Wiley. p. 33. ISBN 0-471-85797-1.
32. Uzanne, Octave, and Mabel McIlvine. 1904. The French Bookbinders of the Eighteenth Century Chicago: The Caxton Club.
33. Owens, Harry J., and Caxton Club. 1952. The Cowboy in American Literature by J. Frank Dobie : Caxton Club, February 16, 1952. [Chicago, Illinois]: [Caxton Club]
34. Koch, Theodore Wesley, and Caxton Club. 1929. Tales for Bibliophiles. Chicago: The Caxton Club.
35. Spargo, John Webster, Bruce Rogers, Caxton Club, and Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers Collection (Library of Congress). 1952. Imaginary Books and Libraries: An Essay in Lighter Vein. Chicago: Caxton Club.

Further reading

• Crowder, Courtney (December 16, 2013). "Chicago's Caxton Club Reaches out to a New Generation". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
• Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Chicago: Caxton Club. ISBN 0-940550-09-1.
• The Caxton Club (2018). Chicago By The Book. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

External links

• Official website
• Caxton Club Collection finding aid, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections and University Archives
• Caxton Club records at The Newberry