Imaginary Books Panel: Earle Havens, Anthony Grafton, Jeff Altepeter

Panel discussion on the themes of the 2nd-floor gallery exhibition “Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works,” curated by Reid Byers. Featuring Earle Havens, Anthony Grafton, and Jeff Altepeter; moderated by the Club’s Executive Director, Declan Kiely.

About Imaginary Books

Part bibliophilic entertainment and part conceptual art installation, Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books features a collection of books that do not really exist. Curated by Grolier Club member Reid Byers, the exhibition includes approximately 100 books and associated arealia from his collection—all simulacra created with a team of printers, bookbinders, artists, and calligraphers—of lost books that have no surviving example, unwritten books that were planned but left unfinished, and fictive works that exist only in fiction. Highlights of the exhibition include William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Won, the lost sequel to Love’s Labour’s Lost; Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, stolen from his wife’s bag on a French train in 1922; and the Necronomicon, John Dee’s copy of the eldritch grimoire that has been kept sealed in a Wells Fargo strongbox, as a precaution, since the Krickle accident of 1967. An accompanying book will be published by Oak Knoll and Club Fortsas.

Visit the exhibition in person Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm, or online. On view through February 15, 2025.