November 2013 Luncheon Meeting

  • 11/08/2013
  • 11:30 AM
  • Urban League Club, 65 W. Jackson, Chicago

Registration


Registration is closed

Speaker: Alex Rivlin

“Collecting and Bookbinding Adventures in the Evil Empire”

Alexander Abraham Rivlin was born in 1946 in Kharkov (Ukraine), into the family of a prominent attorney. He grew up to be a Senior Scientist in Experimental Physics in scientific institutions, all the while pursuing his passion: book collecting. Stymied, but not stopped by an atmosphere thick with suppression and fear: banned books, intrigues, assignations, censorship, smuggling and the KGB, Alex nevertheless amassed an extensive library including Russian literature and history and early printed books with woodcut or engraved illustrations. To maintain his collection, he studied bookbinding. In 1996 Alex and his wife seized the opportunity to follow their son (a graduate student at the U of Chicago), and they emigrated to the US (via Israel and Italy). The destiny of his collection will be explained. For the past 15 years, Alex has been IT Consultant for Allstate, all the while carefully building his second library. Recently retired, Alex tends to the needs of his books and those of his book repair customers.

Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Boulevard. Luncheon buffet (in the main dining room on six) opens at 11:30 am; program (in a different room, to be announced) 12:30-1:30



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


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