The Grolier Club Collects: Books, Manuscripts, & Works on Paper from the Collections of Grolier Club Members

Exhibited December 2002-February 2003, these 130 books, manuscripts, and works on paper from the collections of Grolier Club members encompass the fields of Americana, history, travel, literature, association copies, fine printing, bindings, illustration, photography, bibliography, music, science, medicine, children's literature, and the fine arts. These wonderful objects, notable for their beauty, provenance, or significance, include the corrected proofs of Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol; the first printing of the Hippocratic Oath; an early map of New York drawn by Jay Gould; a diary kept by George Washington; manuscripts and letters by John Jay, Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, and Giacomo Puccini; a Tiffany binding; artists' books; and prints and drawings by Duerer, Piranesi, Redon, Matisse, Ernest H. Shepard, Al Capp, and Edward Gorey. The items--all illustrated--were chosen not so much for their splendor as for the stories their owners tell about them: how they were acquired, who or what influenced the acquisition, how they fit into an overall collecting scheme. A thoughtful introduction by co-curator T. Peter Kraus comments on the nature and history of book collecting and its role in American intellectual and cultural history. Designed by Jerry Kelly, and printed by Martino Mardersteig at the Stamperia Valdonega.