The Caxton Club brings together archivists, authors, binders, book artists, booksellers, collectors, conservators, designers, editors, librarians, printers, publishers, scholars, and others. Members from these diverse backgrounds form a community that shares a love of printed, handwritten, and digital books and related textual objects, such as pamphlets, broadsides, maps, and ephemera. The club provides a forum to learn about the arts, history, and technologies of these materials, as well as a space to share the joys of appreciating and collecting them.

Sarah M. Pritchard, President....... Lou Pitschmann, Vice-President...... Leslie J. Winter, Secretary....... Jeffrey Jahns, Treasurer.......
CAXTONIAN.ORG: A PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ONLINE ARCHIVE OF THE FIRST 23 YEARS OF THE CAXTONIAN.
BOOK LAUNCH. DR. RONALD BAILEY, CLAUDETTE HUNT, CAXTONIAN DR. IRVIN HUNT, JACKIE VOSSLER, AND DR. DESIRÉE MCMILLION
GRANTS: 2019–20 grant recipients: Meha Rey, Yann Trividic, Sara Jensen, Kathie DeLamater, and Annabel Pinkney.
CHICAGO 101 AUTHORS: Each of the 101 titles is the focus of an essay by a leading scholar, writer, or bibliophile.
MELLON FELLOWS: Each year the club provides copies of Other People’s Books to Mellon Fellows at Rare Book School.

Caxton Members: Submit your item to our online exhibit, Caxtonians’ Collections.
Exhibit is open to all.



UPCOMING CAXTON PROGRAMS

Caxton Club programs run from September through June with a second Friday daytime program at Noon CT and a third Wednesday evening program at 6:30 PM CT. Please see detailed descriptions for available programs.

Virtual programs will consist of quality Zoom presentations with real-time Q&A features immediately following. All programs — virtual or in-person — require advance registration on the club’s website. This allows Zoom instructions to be sent before programs, and for planning for in-person programs where space is limited. As usual, we will record all programs and make them available for viewing in the Past Programs section of our website’s Members Only section.

Only registrants who miss a program or wish to view it again will be given the opportunity to request a link to a recording of the program.

  • Jill Gage on Bits and Bobs: An Extraordinary Collection of Artists’ Books at the Newberry

    • 04/17/2024
    • 5:15 PM
    • 4/17/2024 Newberry Library Ruggles Hall 60 W. Walton St. $72, includes presentation, buffet dinner, and beverages (beer, wine, soft drinks) Advance registration required via website by 5:00 PM, 4/15/24
    Registration is closed

    April Evening Program

    This program is produced in collaboration with the Newberry. It is cosponsored by Art Design Chicago and the Chicago Collections Consortium.


    Join library curator Jill Gage of the Newberry in a broad-ranging discussion of an extraordinary collection of artists’ books gathered over several decades by Robert McCamant, the noted book designer, former president of the American Printing History Association, and longtime graphic designer of the Chicago Reader. Mr. McCamant has recently donated parts of this collection to the Newberry and Northwestern, respectively. Images from many of the books will illustrate this conversation.

    Register today for this in-person program. To attend program only (no dinner) or view remotely via Zoom, register through the Newberry.

    5:15 PM CT Doors open 

    5:30 PM CT Socialize, shop, or visit exhibits

    6:00 PM CT Presentation

    Buffet dinner to follow

    $72, includes Ruggles Hall presentation, buffet dinner, and beverages (beer, wine, soft drinks) 

    Advance registration is required via website by 5:00 PM, April 15.

    Show details

  • Aaron Pratt on Shakespeare and Spencer, Secondhand

    • 05/10/2024
    • 12:00 PM
    • 5/10/2024 12:00 PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Zoom presentation is free and open to all. Preregistration required via website. Live attendance – Zoom presentation and optional lunch ($35) following. Reservations required by 12 PM CT 5/8/24. Seating is limited to 24.
    Register

    May Midday Program



    You probably misheard it over the radio. Barbra Streisand wasn’t singing about “Secondhand Rose” … she was belting out “Secondhand Prose.”

    Just think about some of the most precious volumes in your collection. The ones that you didn’t purchase fresh off the press, but found in a used book store. Or bought at auction. Or stumbled upon at an estate sale.

    This idea of acquiring previously owned books isn’t new, and during our May Midday, Aaron Pratt will draw on the formidable resources of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas to tell the tale of the emergence of trade in secondhand volumes.

    Drawing on the Ransom Center’s copies of Seneca His Tenne Tragedies (1581) and Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1596), Pratt will transport you to the middle of the 17th entry and introduce you to a specialized trade in plays, poetry, and prose fiction. He’ll also reveal the origins of the narratives that we tell about the reception and ultimate canonization of Shakespeare, Spenser, and select contemporaries.

    Much published, Aaron Pratt, serves as the Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at the Harry Ransom Center and as Assistant Professor, English.

    Don’t just hear about this program. Experience it first hand. Register today!

    Live attendance and optional lunch

    View Zoom program on eighth floor, Steel Room, Union League Club. Presentation begins at 12:00 PM CT. Optional lunch immediately following in the fourth floor Rendezvous. $35 includes non-alcoholic beverage, a cup of soup, and your choice of sandwich, salad, or hot entree, tax, and tip.

    Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

    Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

    Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

    Transportation to the Union League Club at 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

    The Union League Club is easily accessible through many public transportation methods. Additionally, the following options are available for those who wish to travel by cab or car.

    The Union League Club front desk offers a connection to cab service through Curb. The desk will call cabs for members and all guests while allowing riders to remain inside until the cab arrives. No curb side wait. Cabs will accept all payment forms, following the payment procedures you experience with a street-hailed cab.

    If you are traveling by car, the Union League Club offers valet parking for Caxton events at $35.00. You must register and prepay in advance through the Caxton Club. Valet parking options will now be included as an option with all event registrations.

    Spot Hero is an independent parking option, generally offering spots at the 318 S. Federal Street garage adjacent to the Union League Club. You may reserve and pay for a guaranteed parking spot through the Spot Hero app or website (spothero.com).

    Show details

  • Panel discussion–The Biodiversity Heritage Library, Seventeen Years of Growth from Its Chicago Roots

    • 05/15/2024
    • 5:30 PM
    • 5/15/2024 5:30 PM CT President’s Hall at the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Blvd.
    Register

    May Evening Program

    Presented as part of the BHL Annual Meeting

                      

    Click here to learn more about the BHL.

    Join Martin Kalfatovic (Biodiversity Heritage Library Program Director and Associate Director of Digital Programs and Initiatives at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives), Leora Siegel (Senior Director of the Lenhardt Library, Chicago Botanic Garden), and Gretchen Rings (Museum Librarian and Head of Library Collections for the Marie Louise Rosenthal Library, Field Museum of Natural History) for a presentation and discussion of the growth and history of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL).

    A global consortium with over one hundred contributors, headquartered at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, BHL showcases nearly six hundred years of landmark natural science publications as well as the most up to date scientific research to help stem biodiversity loss and combat the climate crisis.

    Register today!

    Social period with beer, wine, or soft drink, and passed appetizers: 5:30–6:30 PM CT. Presentation 6:30.

    Program is complimentary.

    Registration required. NO EXCEPTIONS. The event will close when it reaches capacity, but no later than May 13.

    Transportation to the Union League Club at 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

    The Union League Club is easily accessible through many public transportation methods. Additionally, the following options are available for those who wish to travel by cab or car.

    The Union League Club front desk offers a connection to cab service through Curb. The desk will call cabs for members and all guests while allowing riders to remain inside until the cab arrives. No curb side wait. Cabs will accept all payment forms, following the payment procedures you experience with a street-hailed cab.

    Spot Hero is an independent parking option, generally offering spots at the 318 S. Federal Street garage adjacent to the Union League Club. You may reserve and pay for a guaranteed parking spot through the Spot Hero app or website (spothero.com).
    Show details

  • Julie Park, Librarian for Literature and Professor of English, Middlemas Arts and Humanities Library, Penn State University

    • 06/14/2024
    • 12:00 PM
    • 6/14/2024 12:00 PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Zoom presentation is free and open to all. Preregistration required via website. ULCC live attendance – Zoom presentation and optional lunch ($35) following. Reservations required by 12PM CT 6/12/24. Seating limit is 24.

    June Midday Program



    Save the date. Program description to follow.

    Live attendance and optional lunch

    View Zoom program on eighth floor, Steel Room, Union League Club. Presentation begins at 12:00 PM CT. Optional lunch immediately following in the fourth floor Rendezvous. $35 includes non-alcoholic beverage, a cup of soup, and your choice of sandwich, salad, or hot entree, tax, and tip.

    Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

    Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

    Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

    Transportation to the Union League Club at 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

    The Union League Club is easily accessible through many public transportation methods. Additionally, the following options are available for those who wish to travel by cab or car.

    The Union League Club front desk offers a connection to cab service through Curb. The desk will call cabs for members and all guests while allowing riders to remain inside until the cab arrives. No curb side wait. Cabs will accept all payment forms, following the payment procedures you experience with a street-hailed cab.

    If you are traveling by car, the Union League Club offers valet parking for Caxton events at $35.00. You must register and prepay in advance through the Caxton Club. Valet parking options will now be included as an option with all event registrations.

    Spot Hero is an independent parking option, generally offering spots at the 318 S. Federal Street garage adjacent to the Union League Club. You may reserve and pay for a guaranteed parking spot through the Spot Hero app or website (spothero.com).

    Show details

  • Zoom: Connect and Share Program

    • 06/19/2024
    • 6:30 PM
    • 6/19/2024 6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET. Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

    June Evening Program




    Save the date. Program description to follow.

    Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

    Zoom begins at 6:30PM CT/7:30 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

    Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

    Show details

MIDDAY PROGRAMS

EVENING PROGRAMS

OTHER PROGRAMS

LATEST NEWS

Read the current CAXTONIAN





211 South Clark Street,
PO Box 2329,
Chicago IL 60604-9997


Tel: +1 (312) 970-1294
info@caxtonclub.org