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.

Rudy Altergott, President...... Leslie J. Winter, Secretary...... Jeffrey Jahns, Treasurer......

CAXTONIAN.ORG: A PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ONLINE ARCHIVE OF THE FIRST 28 YEARS OF THE CAXTONIAN.

L–R: CATE COKER, CYNTHIA WALLS, AND NORA BROOKS BLAKELY

The Caxton Club proudly salutes the winners of the 2024 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize.

Caxton Club Grants Recipients Artist’s books

CAXTON CLUB EVENTS

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.

Switch to Calendar View

Chelsea Foxwell and Brooklyn Zhao on Fact and Fiction: Picturing the News in Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Collection of Anthony J. Mourek

When
03/18/2026

5:30 PM

Location
Wed, 03/18/2026 5:30 PM Union League Club. Registration and prepayment required by 5:00 PM CT 03/13. Free for Members. $35 for Guests.

Register

March Evening Program

Japanese color prints and woodblock-printed books are beloved as works of art and literature. Less attention has been paid to those woodblock-printed images of the Meiji era (1868–1912) which purported to depict the news, especially events of the First Sino-Japanese (1894–95) and Russo-Japanese (1904–05) Wars. This presentation draws on works from the Anthony J. Mourek Collection now in the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago to understand how this traditional medium combined fact and fiction to express Japan’s new identity as a modern nation.

Chelsea Foxwell, Professor of Art History, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the College Director, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Chicago.

Brooklyn Zhao, Undergraduate in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.

Register today. (Note: If registering through the University of Chicago Library, do not register through the Caxton Club.)

Reception with heavy appetizers 5:30 PM CT. Presentation 6:15. Club members: remember to bring your Caxton badge.

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.

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