Caxton Club

Caxton Club

Formation	January 26, 1895[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	Susan R. Hanes[2]
Main organ	Council
Website	www.caxtonclub.org

The Caxton Club is a private social club and bibliophilic society founded in Chicago in 1895 to promote the book arts and the history of the book. To further its goals, the club holds monthly (September through June) dinner meetings and luncheons, sponsors bibliophile events (often in collaboration with the Newberry Library) and exhibitions, and publishes books, exhibition catalogs, and a monthly journal, The Caxtonian.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} The Caxton Club is a member club of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies.^[9]

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.^[10] The club's name honors the fifteenth-century English printer William Caxton.^[11]

The Caxton Club flourished until World War I, after which its membership declined. The club was revived, however, and began to hold regular monthly meetings. The club was exclusively for men until 1976 when the first women were elected to membership.^[11]

The Club published a number of fine editions in partnership with the Lakeside Press of Chicago.^[12]

Notable members

• Gwendolyn Brooks – author, poet^[11]
• Francis Fisher Browne – editor^[13]
• Lee Pierce Butler – bibliographer, librarian, professor^[14]
• Alexander Wilson Drake – artist, collector, critic^[15]
• James Ellsworth – banker, industrialist^[16]
• Charles Lang Freer – art collector, industrialist, philanthropist^[17]
• Ralph Fletcher Seymour – artist, author, publisher^[18]
• Michael Gorman – librarian^[19]
• Frank Orren Lowden – 25th Governor of Illinois, United States Representatives from Illinois, and candidate for the Republican presidential nominations in 1920 and 1928^[20]
• William Mulliken – Olympic swimmer^[21]
• Audrey Niffenegger – author and artist^[22]
• Vincent Starrett – author and newspaperman^[23]
• Robert Wedgeworth – librarian and executive^[22]
• Frank Lloyd Wright – architect^[24]

See also

• List of American gentlemen's clubs

References

1. "The Caxton Club". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 8, 1895.
2. "Officers". Caxton Club. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
3. "Meetings & Speakers Schedule". Caxton Club. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
4. "Bibliophile Events". Caxton Club. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
5. "Exhibitions". Caxton Club. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
6. Johnson, Dirk (February 20, 2011). "Book Lovers Fear Dim Future for Notes in the Margins". New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
7. "Publications". Caxton Club. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
8. "Caxtonian". Caxton Club. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
9. "Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies Member Clubs". Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
10. Gehl, Paul. "Book Arts". Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
11. "History". Caxton Club. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
12. Hutner, Martin (2004). A Century for the Century: Fine Printed Books from 1900 to 1999. Grolier Club. ISBN 9781567922202., p. XXXVII
13. 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 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 239. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
14. Richardson, John (February 2000). "Butler, Lee Pierce". American National Biography Online. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
15. 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 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 530. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
16. 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 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 579. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
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 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 669. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
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 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 1699. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
19. Caxtonian XXI (6)
20. "Books We Finished XV: The Caxton Club Revels Auction, December 20, 2013" (PDF). Caxton Club. p. [16]. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
21. "Caxton Club Directory". Retrieved August 4, 2014.
22. "New Members Admitted During 2010–2011" (PDF). The Caxtonian. 19 (8): 5. August 2011.
23. "Caxtonian Footnotes" (PDF). The Caxtonian. 22 (5): 12. May 2014.
24. Twombly, Robert (1979). Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture. New York: Wiley. p. 33. ISBN 0-471-85797-1.

Further reading

• Crowder, Courtney (December 16, 2013). "Chicago's 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 0-940550-09-1.

External links

• Official website
• Caxton Club Collection finding aid, University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections and University Archives