• Thomas Clarkson’s Latin Essay: The Origins and Legacy of an Antislavery Text

    Sponsored by The Book Club of California Professor Emerita Dee E. Andrews and Assistant Professor Christopher S. Parmenter will discuss two elements of their new book manuscript, Thomas Clarkson’s Latin Essay: The Making of an Abolitionist Author in the Age of Revolution. Based on the first translation of Clarkson’s “An Liceat Invitos in Servitutem Dare” […]

  • FABS Handpress Era Zoom Group

    Sponsored by FABS January 12: FABS Handpress Era Group. This month our guest speaker is Dr. David Wolf, who will speak on 16th century medical books in English including the 1541 edition of Sir Thomas Elyot's The Castel of Helth. To receive a link contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org.

  • Manuscript Mondays: The Pathfinder Papers. Exploring the History of the Fontaine-Maurys, a Founding Family

    Sponsored by The Manuscript Society Russell Hooper will discuss his collecting journey, how he became interested in the Fontaine–Maury family, and his vision for telling a story drawn from the history preserved in the papers. He will also highlight notable individuals represented in the collection, including: Matthew Fontaine Maury, “The Pathfinder of the Seas” and […]

  • FABS 19th Century Zoom Group

    Sponsored by FABS Convivial conversation about all things bibliophilic and 19th century. Hosted by Bill Bryson. For info contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

  • Princeton’s Influential Bollingen Series

    Sponsored by The Grolier Club With Brigitta van Rheinberg This talk will explore how Princeton University Press's Bollingen Series, founded in 1940 and now being rereleased, published hundreds of works by the likes of Coleridge, Jung, and Nabokov and shaped American intellectual thought and cultural life. The Bollingen series, founded by Paul and Mary Mellon […]

  • The Rendell Lecture: Meaning and Magic in Handwritten Material

    Sponsored by the Grolier Club With Glen Miranker In this lecture, Glen Miranker will discuss both the intangible values and the tangible insights that are inherent in some of the holograph manuscripts, letters, notebooks, and marginalia from his collection of Sherlock Holmes material. “When authors put pen to paper, their handwritten text—plus insertions, strike-throughs, and […]

  • Incunabula of the Second Printing Revolution

    Sponsored by The Grolier Club Jeremy Norman will lecture on the complex parameters defining incunabula of the second printing revolution, a period marked by the adopted of mechanized technologies in book production. A series of overlapping innovations in steam power, papermaking, typesetting, and bookbinding throughout the nineteenth century transformed the rate and quality of book […]

  • James P. Keenan on Bookplates: The Art of This Century

    Sponsored by The Caxton Club Our speaker will briefly discuss antique bookplates, but his emphasis will be on the contemporary art form and the fact that bookplates are in use worldwide today! Bookplates are used to mark pride in book ownership and to facilitate exchange to build collections and global friendships. James P. Keenan has […]

  • The Man Who Dammed Hetch Hetchy: John R. Freeman and San Francisco’s Yosemite Water Supply

    Book Club of California

    The damming of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park is widely seen as a watershed event in American environmental history. Passionately opposed by naturalist John Muir and his ardent supporters, the massive undertaking succeeded largely through the efforts of John R. Freeman, one of the most important, influential, and politically adroit engineers of the […]

  • FABS Bindings Zoom Group

    Sponsored by FABS Join the FABS Bindings group for presentations and discussion about the art and craft of bindings. For info contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

  • FABS Living With Books Zoom Group: Money and Provenance

    Sponsored by FABS Join us and host Reid Byers to discuss the delights and challenges of the private library. This month's topics: (1) What role does money play in book collecting? (2) Do we collect provenance? Contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

  • Digger Do: Excavating a Social Movement Through Its Print Ephemera

    Sponsored by the Book Club of California. How do we uncover the arc of a social movement through its broadsides, street sheets, mimeographed leaflets, and print ephemera? In this illustrated talk, Eric Noble will explore the Digger movement of 1960s San Francisco — a radical network of free stores, free food, and free theater — […]