Caxton Club

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 hosts monthly events, collaborates with institutions like the Newberry Library, and publishes works including The Caxtonian.Caxton Club. (2024). https://www.caxtonclub.org/. Retrieved April 24, 2024. The Caxton Club is a member club of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies.

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 Arts and Crafts Movement. The club's name honors the fifteenth-century English printer William Caxton.Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. xiii. 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).Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. 14-15

In 1976, women began to be admitted as members of the Caxton Club, departing from the era's common gentlemen's clubs practices.Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. 87-88. Mary Beth Beal is notable for being the Caxton Club’s first female President in 1985-1986.Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. p. 145.

In 1995 the Caxton Club centenary was celebrated with publication of The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago Piehl, Frank (1995). The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago. Caxton Club. which has been characterized as a "significant addition to the history of American bibliophily."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.

The Club published several fine editions in partnership with the Lakeside Press of Chicago., p. XXXVII

The Club awards scholarships and grants to students and researchers in the book arts.

Notable members

Sydney E. Berger—educator, librarian, rare books expert Thomas Kimball Brooker - book collector, businessman Gwendolyn Brooks – author, poet Francis Fisher Browne – editor Lee Pierce Butler – bibliographer, librarian, professor 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 Alexander Wilson Drake – artist, collector, critic James Ellsworth – banker, industrialist Charles Lang Freer – art collector, industrialist, philanthropist Herman H. Fussler-Librarian, Dean of the University of Chicago Graduate Library SchoolShera, Jesse H. “Herman Howe Fussler.” The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy 53, no. 3 (1983): 215–53. Michael Gorman – librarian Frederic Goudy - printer, artist and type designer Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden – book collector and scholarThe Caxton Club Yearbook 1965 104, and Yearbook 1971 Supplement Nancy Gwinn - director Smithsonian LibrariesSchreyer, Alice."In Memoriam: Nancy Elizabeth Gwinn." The Caxtonian 32 (September/October 2024): 9. Theodore Wesley Koch - librarian, translatorNorthwestern Libraries. (2018). Koch, Theodore Wesley, 1871-1941. Northwestern University. https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/agents/people/2141. Retrieved April 24, 2024.

Henry Eduard Legler – activist, librarianThe Caxton Club Year Book 1971 112 Frank Orren Lowden – 25th governor of Illinois, United States representative IL, candidate Republican presidential nominations 1920, 1928 Beverly Lynch - librarian William Mulliken – Olympic swimmer Kenneth Nebenzahl - antiquarian book- and mapseller, author, supporter and benefactor of history of cartography.The Kenneth Nebenzahl Jr. Lectures in the History of Cartography. University of Chicago Press. Audrey Niffenegger – author and artist Stanley Pargellis - Director of the Newberry Library, 1942 to 1962 Lawrence Clark Powell -librarian Sarah M. Pritchard – librarian Dean of Libraries Sarah Pritchard plans to retire in 2022 Longtime dean led transformation of library services Northwestern Now, October 13, 2021. Carl B. Roden – librarianThe Caxton Club Yearbook 1971 115 Ralph Fletcher Seymour – artist, author, publisher David Spadafora - historian, President, Newberry Library Vincent Starrett – author and newspaperman Peggy Sullivan - library historian, librarian Robert Wedgeworth – librarian and executive Frank Lloyd Wright – architect

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,Uzanne, Octave, and Mabel McIlvine. 1904. The French Bookbinders of the Eighteenth Century Chicago: The Caxton Club. The Cowboy in American Literature by J. Frank Dobie, 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] Tales for Bibliophiles.Koch, Theodore Wesley, and Caxton Club. 1929. Tales for Bibliophiles. Chicago: The Caxton Club. and Imaginary Books and Libraries.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.

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

Caxton Club

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