Max Beerbohm: The Price of Celebrity
2024-01-16 19:00 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Baltimore Bibliophiles
Our Tuesday, January 16 ZOOM program features Margaret D. Stetz and Mark Samuels Lasner on “Max Beerbohm: The Price of Celebrity”
Margaret D. Stetz: “What Would Beerbohm Do?”
Mark Samuels Lasner: “A Lifelong Attack of Maximania: Collecting Max Beerbohm”
The time as usual is 7:00 pm Eastern time (US and Canada). The link is below my signature line. The program will be recorded.
This mailing also includes the first Literary Miscellany of the new year, along with the updated calendar and several extremely time sensitive items.
Looking forward to seeing many of you on Tuesday, January 16.
To receive a link contact Binnie Syril Braunstein at bsbgc@aol.com

The Newly Discovered Notebook of Isaac Newton
2024-01-17 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Co-presented and hosted by The Book Club of California, The Bibliographical Society of America and the American Trust for the British Library
Jan 17, 6:00pm Pacific Time
The newly discovered notebook of Isaac Newton
An in-person and virtual presentation by Scott Mandelbrote, Fellow, Director of Studies in History, and Perne and Ward Librarian, at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, UK. He is also the editorial director of the Newton Project.
Zoom registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Iw7rvuiaTsihs8B1MwNTng
The Cambridge University Library recently purchased a previously unknown notebook kept by Isaac Newton’s chamber-fellow, John Wickins, in the years around 1680. It is possible to identify the contents of the notebook as being previously unknown compositions and correspondence of Isaac Newton, which shed light on many aspects of his work and his engagement with the University in which he was employed.
As part of the preparation of an edition of the notebook, the evidence that it provides for Newton’s reading habits has been extensively investigated and this talk will describe that evidence and the conclusions that can be drawn from it and from other sources to trace changes in Newton’s habits of study at a critical juncture in the development of his thought.

Aldus Manutius: The Invention of the Publisher
2024-01-17 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Grolier Clbub
Aldus Manutius invented italic type and issued more ﬁrst editions of the classics than anyone before or since. He also printed the mysterious Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, the most beautiful book of the Italian Renaissance. In celebration of the first monograph in English on Aldus Manutius in over forty years, Grolier Club member and classicist Rhiannon Knol will sit down with author Oren Margolis to discuss the renowned printer of Venice and his redefinition of the role of the book printer from mere manual laborer to learned publisher. Oren Margolis is Lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the University of East Anglia. Aldus Manutius: The Invention of the Publisher (Reaktion Books) is newly released in the U.S.
Live webcast. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-lecture-aldus-manutius-the-invention-of-the-publisher-tickets-774397302177?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

FABS 19th Century Zoom Group
2024-01-18 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by FABS
January 18
The 19th Century special interest group meets the third Thursday of the month at 4:30-5:30pm Pacific time and 7:30-8:30pm Eastern time. This informal and friendly group offers “a broad look at the 19th Century bibliophilic world; presentations and discussion for collectors, scholars, creatives and other book professionals.” Join us!
To receive a link contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

Kenneth W. Rendell on "Hidden Themes in Collecting"
2024-01-23 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Grolier Club

The second annual Kenneth W. Rendell Lecture on the Importance of Historical Letters and Documents. Grolier member Kenneth W. Rendell will speak on “Hidden Themes in Collecting: What I Discovered About My Own Collecting.”
This program will be live webcast.

Registration here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-lecture-kenneth-w-rendell-on-hidden-themes-in-collecting-tickets-796214989467?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
If you are a Grolier Club member, please register yourself and your guests via the Club website. Do not register via Eventbrite.
Support
We appreciate your interest in the Grolier Club’s programming on the art and history of the book. For over 130 years we have offered our exhibitions and lectures to the public, free of charge. If you have enjoyed these offerings, and would like to support that tradition, and help ensure that it continues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Grolier Club.

George Fletcher: Judging a Book by Its Cover: Bookbindings from the Collections of the Grolier Club, 1470s-2020
2024-01-24 14:30 - 15:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Grolier Club
H. George Fletcher, Curator of “Judging a Book by Its Cover: Bookbindings from the Collections of the Grolier Club, 1470s-2020,” will lecture on the Club’s collection of fine and historic bookbindings in conjunction with Bibliography Week.
This lecture will be live webcast.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-lecture-annual-bibliography-week-lecture-tickets-796218158947?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
If you are a Grolier Club member, please register yourself and your guests via the Club website. Do not register via Eventbrite.
We appreciate your interest in the Grolier Club’s programming on the art and history of the book. For over 130 years we have offered our exhibitions and lectures to the public, free of charge. If you have enjoyed these offerings, and would like to support that tradition, and help ensure that it continues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Grolier Club.

Selby Kiffer on the Bibliotheca Brookeriana: Renaissance Books and Bindings
2024-01-24 18:30 (America/Chicago)
Sponsored by The Caxton Club
Please join us at the Caxton Club’s January 24 evening Zoom program to celebrate Caxtonian T. Kimball Brooker’s extraordinary collection of Renaissance books and bindings. Currently up for auction at Sotheby’s in an unprecedented series of eight sales in New York, London, and Paris, the collection embodies Mr. Brooker’s passion for and scholarly knowledge of Renaissance books, their printers, binders, and provenance. Sotheby’s staff consider it one of the most significant and comprehensive rare book libraries to ever come to auction. Among its 1,300 volumes are works printed by Aldus Manutius, the Italian Renaissance scholar/printer who revolutionized printing in the early 16th century, and volumes created for Jean Grolier, “the Prince of Bibliophiles,” François I of France and the German Imperial Counsellor and merchant Marcus Fugger. Of particular note are eight gilt bindings produced in Mexico in 1594. What Mr. Brooker has assembled is not merely rare and exceptional but also considered to be unique outside Europe.
Guiding us through the “Bibliotheca Brookeriana” will be Sotheby’s senior vice president, Selby Kiffer, who has worked with Mr. Brooker to bring his collection to auction. Mr. Kiffer joined Sotheby’s in 1984 and has been involved in the sale of some of the most celebrated private libraries Sotheby’s has offered. He has also played a key role in the discovery and rediscovery of several bibliographic treasures, among them three previously unrecorded copies of the Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence and a lost fragment of the autograph manuscript of Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 speech, “House Divided.” He is a frequent speaker to academic and bibliophilic groups and is a longstanding member of the board of directors of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.
Even if you can’t attend at the scheduled time, if you’re interested, please register. After the program, we’ll send an email to all registrants, asking if you’d like a link to the complete recording. That way you can see the program even if you couldn’t attend live, ran into technical issues, or simply wanted to watch it again.
Register here: https://caxtonclub.org/event-5515726

Who Owns This Sentence? Copyright Then and Now
2024-01-30 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
The Grolier Club
Copyright today controls a vast range of created things, from songs to software, fancy dress costumes and semiconductor chip designs; it also provides a neverending income stream to the owners of the rights it creates, who almost always turn out to be corporations. That’s obviously not what copyright was intended to do when it was invented in the 18th century in Acts for the Encouragement of Learning. David Bellos, a Princeton University professor, and coauthor of the new book Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs (W. W. Norton), will explain how a decision made in the British House of Lords 250 years ago established copyright by imposing strict limits on publishers’ rights—who have spent the last 50 years getting them all back.
David Bellos, Meredith Howland Pyne Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Princeton, is a scholar of 19th- and 20th-century French and European literature. He is also a well-known translator from French and the author of major biographies of writers Georges Perec and Romain Gary and filmmaker Jacques Tati. He coauthored Who Owns This Sentence? with Alexandre Montagu.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-lecture-who-owns-this-sentence-copyright-then-and-now-tickets-782331423347?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Virtual Exhibition Tour and Q&A: Jeffrey Johnson on "Whodunit?"
2024-02-05 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Grolier Club
Free and Open to the Public; virtual tour
Feb 5, 6:00pm -7:30pm Eastern Time
Whodunit? Key Books in Detective Fiction features selections from Grolier Club member Jeffrey Johnson’s more than 400-piece collection of detective novels from the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The exhibition highlights more than 90 early examples of the sources, heavily fictionalized memoirs, and first appearances of now beloved fictional detectives in the works of Francois Vidocq, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Anna Katherine Green, A. Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Highlights include a four-volume set of the Newgate Calendar (1824), a sensationalist publication detailing criminal activity; the first American edition of The Memoirs of Francois Vidocq (1834), the world’s “first” detective; the first collection of Sherlock Holmes stories (1892); Recollections of a Detective Police Officer (1856), a mass-market “yellowback;” Charles Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood, in “parts” as originally issued in 1870; Agatha Christie’s first novel (1920), with the first appearance of Hercule Poirot; and detective novels of those not normally associated with the genre such as Eden Phillpotts, Aldous Huxley, William Faulkner, and Gypsy Rose Lee.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-exhibition-tour-and-qa-jeffrey-johnson-on-whodunit-tickets-730674666597?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Rebecca Rego Barry: "The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells" [mystery fiction and more]
2024-02-06 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Grolier Club
Whodunit, you ask? Carolyn Wells—82 times between 1909 and 1942. Yet she is all but unknown today, unless it’s for her bibliomystery classic, Murder in the Bookshop (1936). In the early 20th century, she was an immensely popular author, excelling at country house and locked-room novels of detection and becoming one of the original grande dames of mystery. She also wrote in other genres—children’s, young adult, poetry, humor—totaling 180+ books over her career. Some were adapted into silent films by Thomas Edison, and some became bestsellers.
The writer Rebecca Rego Barry, author of the new biography The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells (Post Hill Press), embarked on a full-scale investigation to find out who Wells was and how she had fallen so far off the literary map. Barry’s undertaking started with an enigmatic bookplate found in a first edition of Walden that belonged to Wells, who was a serious book collector. The paper trail then led to Rahway, New Jersey, where she was born and is buried; to New York City’s Upper West Side, where Wells spent her final 25 years; to the Library of Congress, where her world-class collection of rare books now resides; and to many other public and private collections where exciting discoveries unfolded.
Rebecca Rego Barry lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her articles about books, history, and collecting have appeared in Literary Hub, CrimeReads, Smithsonian, The Guardian, Financial Times, and elsewhere. Her first book, Rare Books Uncovered: True Stories of Fascinating Finds in Unlikely Places (2015), developed from her longtime editorship of Fine Books & Collections magazine. She is currently the director of communications at The Raab Collection.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-lecture-rebecca-rego-barry-on-the-vanishing-of-carolyn-wells-tickets-782331774397?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Andrew Pettegree: The Book at War
2024-02-09 12:00 (America/Chicago)
The Caxton Club
How would you answer if someone were to ask you to tell them about when German language books were being tossed into bonfires?
Before you attend this program you might be inclined to provide one answer. After it, you might also include another, more surprising response.
Books live in the same world that people do and get caught up in the same conflicts – both as instruments and victims of warfare. From the burning of (parts of) the ancient library of Alexandria to the horror of modern industrialized battle, books are often in the way – or are even helping to shape the way.
Andrew Pettegree will reveal this fascinating history as he draws on his latest publication, The Book at War (published in the U.S. in December 2023 by Basic Books, a Hachette imprint). It is a story both timely and timeless.
Alert Caxtonians will recall that our speaker has joined us before, from the University of St Andrews (no relation) in Scotland. Much published, he previously joined his co-author in speaking to us about The Library: A Fragile History.
Don’t wait until your notice arrives. Volunteer to attend and register today! https://caxtonclub.org/event-5535425?CalendarViewType=1&SelectedDate=1/26/2024
Zoom presentation is free and open to all.
Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.
Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

The Life, Motto, and Library of William Walker (1570-1642), Vicar of Chiswick
2024-02-12 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Co-presented and co-hosted by The Book Club of California, The Bibliographical Society of America and the American Trust for the British Library.
Feb 12, 6:00pm Pacific Time
An in-person and virtual presentation by Alan H. Nelson, Professor Emeritus, Department of English, University of California, Berkeley
Zoom registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_759LIhnbSYGbxvT3eh4DjQ
Approximately twenty-five printed books and ten manuscripts have been located from before 1640 which bear the florid inscription: “Will and Walke aright. Will: Walker,” usually appearing on the title-page of a printed book, or on the first or last leaf of a manuscript.
This talk will attempt to identify the author of the inscription and the owner of the books and manuscripts in new detail; to reconstruct William Walker’s small but unquestionably significant personal library; and to trace the history of the “best” manuscript of Sir Philip Sidney’s “Old Arcadia.”
An in-person and virtual presentation by Alan H. Nelson, Professor Emeritus, Department of English, University of California, Berkeley

FABS Handpress Era Group
2024-02-12 19:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by FABS
The Handpress Era group meets for presentations and discussion of printed books and materials before 1800.
This month features presentations by FABS Chair Jennifer Larson (a 16th century New Testament with hand-colored woodcuts) and Dr. David Wolf.
We meet the second Monday of the month for one hour at 4:30pm Pacific, 6:30 Central, 7:30pm Eastern.

FABS 19th Century Group
2024-02-15 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by FABS
Join us for an hour of convivial discussion about all things 1800s and bibliophilic! Contact Jennifer at info@fabsocieties.org for a link.
The 19th Century group meets the third Thursday of the month at 7:30pm Eastern, 4:30pm Pacific.

The Wonderful (and Weird) Winterthur Library, with Allie Alvis
2024-02-18 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sponsored by The Book Club of Washington
A virtual visit with a terrific guide (Allie Alvis, Curator of Special Collections) to get the back story on the formation of the unique collection at Winterthur (Delaware) and some of the beautiful and bizarre items it contains.
Register here: https://www.bookclubofwashington.org/events-1/the-wonderful-and-weird-winterthur-library

From Treasure Room to Reading Room: The History of Special Collections
2024-02-22 19:00 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Baltimore Bibliophiles
Cassie Brand, Curator of Rare Books at Washington University Libraries in St. Louis will present a talk to The Baltimore Bibliophiles. Her topic is:
“From Treasure Room to Reading Room: The History of Special Collections.” The ZOOM program begins at 7:00 pm eastern (US and Canada). The program will be recorded, and a link will be provided upon request.
Please contact Binnie Syril Braunstein at bsbgc@aol.com for more information.

Virtual Talk by Ken Gloss of Boston's famed Brattle Book Shop
2024-02-22 19:00 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Book Club of Detroit
Kenneth Gloss, internationally known rare book specialist, appraiser, and proprietor of Boston’s famed Brattle Book Shop, will give a virtual presentation for The Book Club of Detroit on Thursday, February 22, 7:00 pm EST, via Zoom. This event is free of charge and open to the public (but registration is required). Ken will talk about the “improbable finds” of his decades-long career and discuss the value of old and rare books. Ken, who is frequently seen on national TV, will relate the history of his historic bookshop (www.brattlebookshop.com/about), which goes back to circa 1825. Ken, a second-generation owner of Brattle Book Shop, will discuss growing up in the book business, show some of his favorite finds while enjoying “the thrill of the hunt,” and explain how he appraises books and manuscripts. He has many fascinating anecdotes to share about private and institutional collecting as well as guidelines for building and maintaining a significant collection. A Q&A session will follow. Register online at
https://bcdforms.com/website/events/virtual-event-feb-22/ . Zoom log-in credentials will be provided after registration.

FABS Bindings Group: Sophia S. W. Bogle on Book Restoration Unveiled
2024-02-26 19:30 (America/New_York)
FABS Special Interest Group: Binding 26 February, 2024 7:30pm eastern / 6:30pm midwest / 5:30pm mountain / 4:30pm pacific (*please note that this program has been moved due to the holiday the week prior*)
SOPHIA S.W. BOGLE :: BOOK RESTORATION UNVEILED Join FABS members interested in Bindings for a Presentation and Discussion with Sophia S.W. Bogle on book restoration. Sophia states: “Identifying book restoration treatments requires a paradigm shift. I will take you on a journey to make this shift by introducing you to the deep dark secrets of book restoration. You will learn to use your eyes, your fingers, and even your nose to detect restorative changes to any book. Beware, once you have learned these secrets you will never look at a book the same way!” You are invited to bring a book—that has been restored or needs to be—to show during the discussion.
This program will not be recorded. ~
To receive a link contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org
ngThe FABS Special Interest Group: Binding meets every third Monday of the month ~

FABS Living With Books Group
2024-02-27 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by FABS
A new FABS group on Living with Books will hold its first meeting this month.
Hosted by The Private Library author Reid Byers, this group will meet on Zoom, on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Discussions will cover acquisition, cataloging and photographing collections, home libraries, book furniture, conservation and storage, and more.
The format for the February meeting (Feb 27, 7:30 eastern time) will be an open discussion about three subjects: bookplates, bookmarks, and the Pleasures of Reading.
Please contact Jennifer Larson (info@fabsocieties.org) to be added to the contact list.

A History and Virtual Tour of the Collections of the Washington State Library
2024-03-03 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sponsored by The Book Club of Washington
Dating from 1853, the Washington State Library is the state’s oldest cultural institution, preserving for decades items not duplicated elsewhere that hold the answers to so many questions about the past. Come along on our virtual guided tour of this research playground!
Register here: https://www.bookclubofwashington.org/events-1/a-history-and-virtual-tour-of-the-collections-of-the-washington-state-library

Bibliophiles Beware: The Situationist International and the Art & Politics of Cultural Hijacking
2024-03-04 18:00 - 19:15 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sponsored by The Book Club of California
Active between 1957 and 1972, The Situationist International (S.I.) was a revolutionary alliance of artists, intellectuals, architects and political theorists that is hailed as the “last avant-garde” of the 20th century. One of the organization’s core concepts is that of détournement, which can be understood as the subversion of established cultural commodities as a means of propaganda. This exhibition presents numerous examples of this innovative practice, from artist books to comic strips, and from leaflets to maps. In doing so, it also attempts to retrace the history of a movement that maintained an ambiguous relationship with their own material productions.
Exhibition opening and remarks by Mehdi El Hajoui, private collector.
Click here to REGISTER for the Virtual Presentation on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Bdg05B1aTZmhCHk5sBIUzQ#/registration

Photography Collections That Bring History to Life — Lorenzo Lorain and Images of the Oregon Coast, 1857–1861
2024-03-08 12:00 (America/Chicago)
Sponsored by The Caxton Club
Lieutenant Lorenzo Lorain is remembered in part by some historians as the first officer from Oregon to be wounded in the Civil War. But we’ll be learning about another, unique first. Lorain undertook to photograph Native peoples who lived along the Oregon coast. The images he made between 1857 and 1861 provide a remarkable record of Coos, Lowe, Umpqua, Siuslaw, Modoc, and Klamath individuals — a record that helps bring vital history to life. Photographic collections are carefully nurtured in libraries, museums, and historical societies. Our speaker, Megan Friedel, will reach behind the exhibit glass we usually have to peer through to show and tell a remarkable tale.
Friedel serves as Head of Collections Management and Stewardship for Rare & Distinctive Collections at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is also an Assistant Professor and oversees the library’s archival collections. She will be drawing on her research into the photographic history of the 19th Century of the American West.
She was graduated from Amherst College and earned dual degrees at Simmons College, taking an MA in history and an MLIS.
No need to get on a plane to leave the plains and journey west. Book your reservation today!
Zoom presentation is free and open to all. Register here: https://caxtonclub.org/event-5615361
Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

Empress San Francisco: The Pacific Rim, The Great West, and California at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
2024-03-11 18:00 - 19:15 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sponsored by The Book Club of California
When the more than 18 million visitors poured into the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in San Francisco in 1915, they encountered a vision of the world born out of San Francisco’s particular local political and social climate. By seeking to please various constituent groups ranging from the government of Japan to local labor unions and neighborhood associations, fair organizers generated heated debate and conflict about who and what represented San Francisco, California, and the United States at the world’s fair. The PPIE encapsulated the social and political tensions and conflicts of pre–World War I California and presaged the emergence of San Francisco as a cosmopolitan cultural and economic center of the Pacific Rim.
Empress San Francisco offers a fresh examination of this, one of the largest and most influential world’s fairs, by considering the local social and political climate of Progressive Era San Francisco. Focusing on the influence exerted by women, Asians and Asian Americans, and working-class labor unions, among others, Abigail M. Markwyn offers a unique analysis both of this world’s fair and the social construction of pre–World War I America and the West.
An in-person and virtual presentation by Abigail M. Markwyn, author and professor of history at Carroll University

Click here to REGISTER for the Virtual Presentation on Zoom

FABS Handpress Era Zoom Group
2024-03-11 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by FABS
All are welcome to join us for an hour of presentations and discussion of printed books and other materials before 1800. The Handpress Group meets the second Monday of each month. In honor of Women’s History Month, the March session features Elizabeth Canning discussing A Narrative of the Life of Charlotte Charke (1755), the first autobiography in English by a gender non-conforming person. (Charke was an actress and author who not only performed male “breeches” roles onstage, but also lived and worked as “Mr. Brown” offstage for many years.) The presentation will be followed by an open session in which attendees are invited to hold up a book authored, owned/read, crafted or published by a woman.
Contact Jennifer Larson (info@fabsocieties.org) to be added to the mailing list.

Miniature Commissioned Bookbindings with Arno Gschwendtner and Pat Pistner
2024-03-17 11:00 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by The Miniature Book Society
The Miniature Book Society presents the next in their zoom series on March 17 at 8am PST, 11am EST. Members Pat Pistner and Dr. Arno Gschwendtner will be talking about commissioned book bindings and will showcase examples from their personal collections. The talk is open to MBS members, but interested FABS members may contact President Kim Herrick for participation info: books@thebooklair.com

Redemptive Dreams: Engaging Kevin Starr’s California
2024-03-18 18:00 - 19:15 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sponsored by The Book Club of California
An essential piece in California Studies, Redemptive Dreams: Engaging Kevin Starr’s California offers the first critical engagement with the vision of California’s most ambitious interpreter. While Starr’s multifaceted and polymathic vision of California offered a unique gaze—synthesizing central features, big themes, and incredible problems with the propitious golden dream—his eight-volume California Dream series, along with several other books and thousands of published articles and essays, often puzzled historians and other scholars. Historians in the contemporary school of critical historiography often found Starr’s narrative approach—seeking to tell the internal drama of the California story—to be less attuned to the most important work happening in the field. Such a perspective fails to acknowledge key developments in historical subfields like Black and African American Studies, Chicana/o/x Studies, Asian Studies, Native Studies, and others that draw from the narrative in their critical work and how this relates to Starr’s contribution. Along with being a major figure in California institutional life, with literary output spanning genres, it is through the lens of his lived experience as a devout Catholic that this critical sociological perspective sheds new light on his project. With contributions from sociology, history, and theology, akin to investigations appearing in Theology and California: Theological Refractions on California’s Culture (Routledge), Redemptive Dreams offers interdisciplinary perspectives that highlight key features inherent in interdisciplinary theological reflection on place and illuminates these diverse disciplinary discourses as they appear in Starr’s articulation of the California Dream.
An in-person and virtual presentation by Jason S. Sexton, author and professor of sociology at University of California, Los Angeles
Click here to REGISTER for the Virtual Presentation on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TSwVvno7RzadtEKwt1Waew#/registration

FABS Bindings Zoom Group: Brian Beidler on Making Finishing Tools
2024-03-18 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by FABS
The FABS Bindings Zoom Group is a lively group of book artisans, curators and collectors who meet the third Monday of the month to discuss aspects of book binding from all periods. All are welcome to participate!
This month we feature Brian Beidler on “Making the Tools of the Trade,” the manufacture of finishing tools and how they are used on bindings.
Contact Jennifer Larson (info@fabsocieties.org) to join the mailing list and receive links.

Hannah Batsel and Leslie Winter on Caxton Women Collect
2024-03-20 18:30 (America/Chicago)
Sponsored by The Caxton Club
March Evening Program

Hannah Batsel
“A Library of Images: An Artist and Illustrator’s Handbibliothek.”
While the subject matter of Hannah’s collection varies widely, every volume serves the same purpose: a reference tool to lend detail and verisimilitudes to the books she creates. In addition to books about art and illustration, her collection includes books on the niche subject matter that her projects require: late-nineteenth-century boys’ adventure stories, publisher bindings, books about illuminated manuscripts, and occult grimoires. Her collection explains why she has often said, “All of my best ideas are in other peoples’ books.”
Hannah is a book artist, writer, and illustrator based in Chicago. Click here to learn more.
Leslie Winter
“Solutions to Accumulating: Mental Collecting.”
Leslie Winter’s presentation is based on the premise that Millennials will experience lower rates of homeownership and change residences far more frequently than previous generations. Assuming that such predictions are correct, she outlines a method of book collecting that combines limited and strategic physical acquisition with a creative “wishful thinking” practice which she calls “mental collecting.”
What she describes may indeed predict far more typical collecting habits of future Caxtonians than the Club’s founding members could ever have imagined when they first gathered in the winter of 1895.
Leslie is an Associate Specialist in Books and Manuscripts at Freeman’s | Hindman in Chicago. Click here to learn more.
Zoom begins at 6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET.
Zoom presentation is free and open to all. Register here: https://caxtonclub.org/event-5605501

FABS 19th Century Group
2024-03-21 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by FABS
The FABS 19th Century SIG is a lively group of readers, writers, collectors and curators who meet online the third Thursday of the month to discuss all things bookish and 19th century. All are welcome to participate.
To join the mailing list contact Jennifer Larson (info@fabsocieties.org)

Leslie Long on Book Designer Margaret Neilson Armstrong
2024-03-22 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Sponsored by the Baltimore Bibliophiles
On Thursday, March 22nd, we will welcome Leslie Long, who works in the General Collections Conservation Section at the Library of Congress. Tying in with Women’s History Month, Leselie will introduce us to Margaret Neilson Armstrong, a 19th and early 20th-century American book cover designer, illustrator, and author. She is best known for her book covers influenced by Art Nouveau. [Wikipedia] The virtual program begins at 7:00 pm EDT.
For a link contact:
Binnie Syril Braunstein
The Baltimore Bibliophiles
BSBGC@AOL.com
