News

In Celebration of International Kelmscott Press Day, June 26

Video presentation by Caxtonian, Jill Gage:
The Kelmscott Press at the Newberry Library
https://youtu.be/OMHV2KPyaQQ
Sponsored by the Caxton Club

Information and more programs at https://morrissociety.org/wmsus/events/international-kelmscott-press-day/

In 2020, the Caxton Club made an award to the Newberry Library for the purchase of a work by a Caxton Club grant winner not represented in the Newberry’s collection. We’re pleased to announce that Mardy Sears’ Gules has been acquired by the Newberry using the award. 

Mardy Sears: "Gules, meaning reddish, begins with a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, 'On a field sable, the letter 'A' gules.' I was motivated by the novel and by life events to create an artist book with the theme of adultery. The concept of this limited edition artist book marries text, taken from the answers to a questionnaire I drafted about thoughts regarding adultery, with photos of subjects wearing an embroidered scarlet letter. In order to capture precise expressions I used a photo transfer process to print the image onto linoleum blocks for carving. Both block-printed images and letterpress text are bound into separate books and hinged together in a dos-à-dos binding with oak covers."

In recognition of Pan Asian American Heritage Month, we share the work of Caxton Club Grant recipient and club member, Kazumi Seki. See more at kazumiseki.com.

Cherry Blossom (2020) created during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

In recognition of National Poetry Month the Caxton Club celebrates the importance of poetry and poets.

Attend our 4/21 Program – Jacqueline Goldsby  on “Do Not be Afraid of No: Gwendolyn Brooks’ Years at Harpers”

  

Caxton Club co-sponsored discussion with designer Matthew Carter and The Newberry’s Jill Gage on development of Snell Roundhand typeface. Video here.

The Caxton Club proudly announces support of the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, an annual prize of $1,000 for an outstanding book collection conceived and built by a young woman.

https://www.honeyandwaxbooks.com/prize.php

The Caxton Club celebrates women as collectors, writers, designers, and presidents.

The Caxton Club has had four women presidents.

Visit www.caxtonclub.org for more information and to register.

In recognition of Black History Month, we share links to Caxtonian issues from July 1995, featuring essays about famed poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and April 2020, featuring a Kinohi Nishikawa essay titled "The Chicago Black Renaissance and the Black Cat Press.” Mr. Nishikawa will make a presention to the club on March 24.

Columbine, White Lily and Lupine. Secret message: It was a dream of folly, from which I woke to weep. Osgood, Frances Sargent (editor). The Floral Offering, A Token of Friendship (1847). Art by J. Ackerman. Contributed in BHL from Chicago Botanic Garden, Lenhardt Library. Digitization sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Caxtonian Leora Siegel, Senior Director, Lenhardt Library wrote a recent blog post for the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) about editor Frances S. Osgood’s The Floral Offering, A Token of Friendship. The illustrated book explains the secret language of floral arrangements through illustrated bouquets, poems, and a floral dictionery.

The Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden is digitizing 62 rare nineteenth century language of flowers volumes as part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Floral Offering is from the second set of volumes.

For more about the BHL, see the December 2019 issue of the Caxtonian.