The Fly Dealer of Covent Garden Bookshop

Booksellers and collectors are stereotyped as quiet, nerdy, bookish sorts, but the reality is they are just as likely to be adventurers, visionaries, activists, oddballs, provocateurs, and even scoundrels. Covent Garden Bookshop was run by one such colorful figure. Dr. N.C. Nothmann supposedly fled his Nazi-occupied homeland of Lithuania by walking to Italy. From there …

A 20th Century Binder’s Scrapbook

It was initially presumed that this binders scrapbook, acquired by the Club in 2014, was part of the Curwen Press archive, as it contains numerous drawings of bindings for Curwen publications, as well as correspondence from Harold Curwen, director of the Press. It is well known that the Curwen Press had a bindery on their …

Building closed 6/18-22

Please note: the Grolier Club building will be closed the week of June 18-22 to accommodate extensive renovation work in our lobby. Apologies for any inconvenience.

About the Grolier Club Library Blog

This blog was created to allow staff to highlight objects in the Grolier Club Library’s collection which they find interesting, beautiful, quirky, or otherwise remarkable. Information relating to certain events, temporary closings, or other activities that affect the library will be cross-posted here as well. We welcome your comments, questions, and observations.

Bookplate of Madame Roland de Challerange (after 1712-1781)

The Grolier Club Library’s Maria Gerard Messenger Women’s Bookplate Collection—recently digitized thanks to a 2016-2017 Digitization Funding Award from METRO—contains the bookplates of many women who have received little documentation in the historical record. This post gathers a few details about one of these women, Madame Roland de Challerange (after 1712-1781). Madame Roland de Challerange’s …

Schraubmedaille, 1813

This post is dedicated to all of the special collections librarians who have “inherited” mysterious objects on their desks. These are objects which have seemingly always been there, but whose origin is helplessly lost. When asked about them, your  predecessors nod and give a weary shrug. They are often outliers: unusual formats; an uncomfortable fit on the shelves; …

Upcoming closures 4/4-10, 4/12-13

Please note that the Grolier Club will be partially closed Wednesday, April 4 through Friday, April 13 while we dismantle and prepare our ground floor and basement spaces for renovation. We expect our downtime over the next two weeks to be structured as follows: Wednesday April 4-Tuesday April 10, Thursday April 12-Friday April 13: --No …