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The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Treasurer General of France, whose library was famous; his motto, "Io. Grolierii et amicorum" [of or belonging to Jean Grolier and his friends], suggested his generosity in sharing books. The Club's stated objective is "the literary study of the arts pertaining to the production of books, including the occasional publication of books designed to illustrate, promote and encourage these arts; and the acquisition, furnishing and maintenance of a suitable club building for the safekeeping of its property, wherein meetings, lectures and exhibitions shall take place from time to time ..."
Contents
Collections and programs
The Grolier Club maintains a research library specializing in books, bibliography and bibliophily, printing (especially the history of printing and examples of fine printing), binding, illustration and bookselling. The Grolier Club has one of the more extensive collections of book auction and book seller catalogs in North America. The Library has the archives of a number of prominent bibliophiles such as Sir Thomas Phillipps, and of bibliophile and print collecting groups, such as the Hroswitha Club of women book collectors (1944–c. 1999) and the Society of Iconophiles.
The Grolier Club also has a program of public exhibitions which "treat books and prints as objects worthy of display, on a par with painting and sculpture." The exhibitions draw on various sources including holdings of the Club, its members, and of institutional libraries. In 2013, it hosted an exhibition on women in science.
The Grolier Club is a member of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies.
History
The founders of the club were William L. Andrews, Theodore L. DeVinne, A. W. Drake, Albert Gallup, Robert Hoe III, Brayton Ives, Samuel W. Martin, E. S. Mead, and Arthur B. Turnure. Perfection in the art of bookmaking is encouraged. E. D. French engraved the club's own bookplate as well as bookplates for many of its members.
Honorary members have included I.N. Phelps Stokes (elected 1927), Bruce Rogers (1928), Henry Watson Kent (1930), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934), Rudolph Ruzicka (1946), Lawrence C. Wroth (1950), Carl Purington Rollins (1951), Elmer Adler (1952), Joseph Blumenthal (1967), and Mary C. Hyde Eccles (1989); while Honorary Foreign Corresponding members have included Emery Walker (elected 1920), Alfred W. Pollard (1921), Sir Geoffrey Keynes (1922), Michael Sadleir (1925), Stanley Morison (1951), Giovanni Mardersteig (1964), Howard M. Nixon (1971), Nicolas Barker (1972), John Carter (1973), and Hermann Zapf (2003).
Harry Elkins Widener, the wealthy young bibliophile whose early death in sinking of the RMS Titanic inspired his mother to construct Harvard's Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, had been a member.
The Grolier Club has had three locations since its founding in 1884. Its first home was rented. It moved in 1890 to a Romanesque Revival building at 29 East 32nd Street (now a designated landmark), and in 1917 to its current home (designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue) at 47 East 60th Street in New York's Silk Stocking District.
In 2013, plans were announced for a 51-story apartment tower to be built beside the Grolier Club, using air rights purchased from the club and from the adjoining Christ Church.
List of presidents
The following people have served as presidents of the club:
Publications
The Club has issued editions of the following works: