The Codex Sassoon’s Provenance through Catalogues at the Grolier Club

Last Wednesday, on May 17th, one of the three oldest, largely complete copies of the Hebrew Bible, dubbed the Codex Sassoon, was consigned to auction at Sotheby’s in New York by the Swiss financier and collector Jacqui Safra. It sold for $38.1 million (including fees) to the Friends of the ANU (Museum of the Jewish …

The Library Catalogue of Mabon “Smitty” Smith

By Janalyn Martínez, Cataloger When you hear the phrase “book collector,” what image comes to mind – a gruff, older man sitting in a hole-in-the-wall storefront, surrounded by dusty books on overstuffed shelves? An academic with lots of letters after her name and a well-appointed library in her home? A new-money millionaire collecting first editions …

Now Open in our Ground Floor Gallery: “A Century of Dining Out: The American Story in Menus, 1841-1941”

From the Collection of Henry Voigt April 26 - July 29, 2023 Menus can transport us back to the everyday life of the past, whether to a lavish banquet in the Gilded Age or a food-relief eatery during the Great Depression. Coming into general use in the United States in the 1840s when hotels and …

A Coptic Manuscript Leaf Found at the Grolier Club

By Kevin McKinney, Grolier Club Library Assistant The Grolier Club is pleased to announce the discovery of a Coptic manuscript leaf on parchment, found tucked inside an H.P. Kraus catalog, which had been part of the firm's reference collection. These catalogs came to the Club as a gift from Sotheby's after the sale of the …

Now Open in our Second Floor Gallery -“To Fight For the Poor With My Pen”: Zoe Anderson Norris, Queen of Bohemia

From the Collection of Eve M. KahnMarch 2 – May 13, 2023 "To Fight for the Poor with My Pen" is the first exhibition to explore the legacy of Gilded Age author and reformer Zoe Anderson Norris (1860- 1914). Writer and publisher of the magazine The East Side (bimonthly, 1909-1914), Norris focused on immigrants and …

L’Abbaye de la Ferté-sur Grosne: Its Library and Woodwork

*Note: This post is the result of a collaboration with Hélène Joannelle, Conservateur en chef, Bibliothèque municipale de Chalon-sur-Saône. I am grateful to Madame Joannelle for sharing crucial details with me about the history of the La Ferté library and woodwork, as well as the history of the municipal library at Chalon-sur-Saône.  In 1702, l'abbé …

Grolierites Take the Stage, Part III

Reading a Poem By Leah Johanson, Library Assistant Welcome to the third and final installment of our blog series on the Grolier Club plays. At the 1910 annual meeting, members of the Grolier Club followed the raucous and bawdy nature of the previous year’s play, Depositio Cornuti Typographici, with a witty satire by William Makepeace …

Grolierites Take the Stage, Part II

Depositio Cornuti Typographici By Leah Johanson, Library Assistant This is part two of three in our series about the plays performed by Grolier Club members during the annual meetings. Let’s take a closer look at the first play staged at the Grolier Club for the 1909 annual meeting, the German morality play: Depositio Cornuti Typographici: …

Now open in our Ground Floor Gallery: Pattern and Flow

"Pattern and Flow: A Golden Age of American Decorated Paper, 1960s to 2000s" The Paper Legacy Project collection, Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of ArtJanuary 18 – April 8, 2023 "Pattern and Flow" surveys for the first time the golden age of American decorated paper, telling the story of 53 imaginative and innovative …

Grolierites Take the Stage, Part I

The Performances By Leah Johanson, Library Assistant Since the founding of the Grolier Club in 1884, members have been required by the Club’s constitution to gather for an Annual Meeting on the fourth Thursday of each January.[1] Apparently, these events were not the most exciting affairs because at the Council meeting on November 10, 1908, …