# Caxton Club

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Private social club and bibliophilic society

Caxton Club Formation January 26, 1895; 131 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](/source/Gentlemen's_club) and [bibliophilic](/source/Bibliophilia) society founded in [Chicago](/source/Chicago) in 1895 to promote the [book arts](/source/Artist's_book) and the [history of the book](/source/History_of_the_book). To further its goals, the club hosts monthly events, collaborates with institutions like the [Newberry Library](/source/Newberry_Library), and publishes works including *The Caxtonian.*[3] The Caxton Club is a member club of the [Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies](/source/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](/source/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement).[5] The club's name honors the fifteenth-century [English](/source/England) [printer](/source/Printer_(publishing)) [William Caxton](/source/William_Caxton).[6] The founders included [John Vance Cheney](/source/John_Vance_Cheney), [Edward E. Ayer](/source/Edward_E._Ayer), [Martin A. Ryerson](/source/Martin_A._Ryerson), [James Ellsworth](/source/James_Ellsworth_(industrialist)), [Charles L. Hutchinson](/source/Charles_L._Hutchinson), and Washington Irving Way and Chauncey L. Williams (of [Way & Williams](/source/Way_and_Williams_Publishers)).[7]

In 1976, women began to be admitted as members of the Caxton Club, departing from the era's common [gentlemen's clubs](/source/Gentlemen's_club) practices.[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](/source/Lakeside_Press#History) of Chicago.[12]

The Club awards scholarships and grants to students and researchers in the [book arts](/source/Book_illustration).[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] Herman H. Fussler-Librarian, Dean of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School[20] Michael Gorman – librarian Frederic Goudy - printer, artist and type designer[21] Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden – book collector and scholar[22] Nancy Gwinn - director Smithsonian Libraries[23] Theodore Wesley Koch - librarian, translator[24] Henry Eduard Legler – activist, librarian[25] Frank Orren Lowden – 25th governor of Illinois, United States representative IL, candidate Republican presidential nominations 1920, 1928 Beverly Lynch - librarian[26] William Mulliken – Olympic swimmer Kenneth Nebenzahl - antiquarian book- and mapseller, author, supporter and benefactor of history of cartography.[27] Audrey Niffenegger – author and artist Stanley Pargellis - Director of the Newberry Library, 1942 to 1962 Lawrence Clark Powell -librarian Sarah M. Pritchard – librarian [28] Carl B. Roden – librarian[29] Ralph Fletcher Seymour – artist, author, publisher[30] David Spadafora - historian, President, Newberry Library[31] Vincent Starrett – author and newspaperman Peggy Sullivan - library historian, librarian[32] Robert Wedgeworth – librarian and executive Frank Lloyd Wright – architect[33]

## 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,*[34] *The Cowboy in American Literature by J. Frank Dobie,* [35] *Tales for Bibliophiles.*[36] and *Imaginary Books and Libraries.*[37]

A complete listing of the publications is available here: [club’s publications](https://www.caxtonclub.org/publications).

## See also

- [Chicago portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Chicago)

- [List of American gentlemen's clubs](/source/List_of_American_gentlemen's_clubs)

- [Books in the United States](/source/Books_in_the_United_States)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** "The Caxton Club". *[Chicago Daily Tribune](/source/Chicago_Daily_Tribune)*. December 8, 1895.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Officers"](http://www.caxtonclub.org/Officers). Caxton Club. Retrieved February 24, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Caxton Club. (2024). [https://www.caxtonclub.org/](https://www.caxtonclub.org/). Retrieved April 24, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies Member Clubs"](http://fabsbooks.org/MemberClubs.aspx). Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. Retrieved April 3, 2012.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Gehl, Paul. ["Book Arts"](http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/156.html). *Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago*. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Piehl, Frank (1995). *The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago*. Caxton Club. p. xiii.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Piehl, Frank (1995). *The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago*. Caxton Club. p. 14-15

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Piehl, Frank (1995). *The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago*. Caxton Club. p. 87-88.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Piehl, Frank (1995). *The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago*. Caxton Club. p. 145.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Piehl, Frank (1995). *The Caxton Club, 1895–1995: Celebrating a Century of the Book in Chicago*. Caxton Club.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-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.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Hutner, Martin (2004). [*A Century for the Century: Fine Printed Books from 1900 to 1999*](https://books.google.com/books?id=On2cttWtZ9AC). Grolier Club. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781567922202](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781567922202)., [p. XXXVII](https://books.google.com/books?id=On2cttWtZ9AC&dq=Rockwell+Kent+Moby-dick+lakeside&pg=PR37)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Caxton Club - Grants"](http://caxtonclub.org/grants/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-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*](https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC) (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 239. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Richardson, John (February 2000). ["Butler, Lee Pierce"](http://www.anb.org/articles/09/09-01044.html). *American National Biography Online*. Retrieved March 29, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["Robert B. Downs, 87, Librarian and Author"](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/26/obituaries/robert-b-downs-87-librarian-and-author.html). *The New York Times*. February 26, 1991.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-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*](https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC) (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 530. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-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*](https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC) (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 579. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-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*](https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC) (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 669. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Shera, Jesse H. “Herman Howe Fussler.” *The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy* 53, no. 3 (1983): 215–53.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Shaw_on_Goudy_21-0)** Shaw, Paul. ["An appreciation of Frederic W. Goudy as a type designer"](http://www.paulshawletterdesign.com/2014/03/an-appreciation-of-frederic-w-goudy-as-a-type-designer/). Retrieved July 12, 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** The Caxton Club Yearbook 1965 104, and Yearbook 1971 Supplement

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Schreyer, Alice."In Memoriam: Nancy Elizabeth Gwinn." *The Caxtonian* 32 (September/October 2024): 9.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Northwestern Libraries. (2018). *Koch, Theodore Wesley, 1871-1941*. Northwestern University. [https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/agents/people/2141](https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/agents/people/2141). Retrieved April 24, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** The Caxton Club Year Book 1971 112

1. **[^](#cite_ref-illinois.edu_26-0)** ["Lynch, Beverly P. (1936-) - The American Library Association Archives"](https://archives.library.illinois.edu/alaarchon/index.php?p=creators/creator&id=3958). *archives.library.illinois.edu*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** [The Kenneth Nebenzahl Jr. Lectures in the History of Cartography.](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/NLHC.html) University of Chicago Press.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** [Dean of Libraries Sarah Pritchard plans to retire in 2022 Longtime dean led transformation of library services](https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/10/dean-of-libraries-sarah-pritchard-to-retire/) *Northwestern Now*, October 13, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** The Caxton Club Yearbook 1971 115

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** 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*](https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC) (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 1699. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-31)** Johnson, Steve (June 14, 2017). ["The Newberry Library set to undergo $11 million renovation"](http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-0615-newberry-makeover-20170614-story.html). Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 3, 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-honorary_32-0)** ["Peggy Sullivan Named ALA Honorary Member in 2008. No. 7.4.2008. 110"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120211151919/http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=1114). *Librarian*. Archived from [the original](http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=1114) on February 11, 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** Twombly, Robert (1979). [*Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KSA1HTTU-eMC). New York: Wiley. p. 33. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-471-85797-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-471-85797-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-34)** Uzanne, Octave, and Mabel McIlvine. 1904. *The French Bookbinders of the Eighteenth Century Chicago: The Caxton Club*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-35)** 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]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-36)** Koch, Theodore Wesley, and Caxton Club. 1929. Tales for Bibliophiles. Chicago: The Caxton Club.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-37)** 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"](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/12/16/chicagos-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](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-940550-09-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-940550-09-1).

- The Caxton Club (2018). [*Chicago By The Book*](http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo28751879.html). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

## External links

- [Official website](http://www.caxtonclub.org/)

- [Caxton Club Collection finding aid, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections and University Archives](http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/services/rjd/findingaids/Caxtonf.html)

- [Caxton Club records](https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/1267) at [The Newberry](/source/Newberry_Library)

v t e Books Production Binding Covers dust jackets Design Editing Illustration Illuminated manuscripts Printing edition history incunabula instant book limited edition Publishing advance copy hardcover paperback Size Typesetting Volume (bibliography) Collection (publishing) Book series Consumption Awards Bestsellers list Bibliography Bibliomania (tsundoku) Bibliophilia Bibliotherapy Bookmarks Bookselling blurbs book towns history used Censorship Clubs Collecting Digitizing Bookworm (insect) Furniture bookcases bookends Library Print culture Reading literacy Reviews By country Brazil China France Germany Italy Japan Netherlands Pakistan Spain United Kingdom United States Other Genres non-fiction novel imaginary miniature pop-up textbook Grimoire Formats audiobooks Ebooks Folio Coffee table book Related Banned books Book burning incidents Nazi Book curses Book packaging Book swapping Book tour Conservation and restoration Dog ears History of books scroll codex Intellectual property ISBN Outline Preservation The Philobiblon World Book Day World Book Capital Outline Category Portal

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF National United States Israel Other IdRef Open Library Yale LUX

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