A Maker of Books: Alec Bolton and his Brindabella Press

Sponsored by The Book Club of California Australia has a long history of fine printing, which is mostly unknown outside of the country itself. ‘Printing is like religion’, acclaimed Australian book artist Alec Bolton once said, ‘We live in sin, but with the hope of perfection before us.’ And while his life circled around books […]

Companions of Minds and Books: H.H. and Matilda Bancroft in Their Literary Industries

Sponsored by The Book Club of California Kim Bancroft will discuss the legacy of her great-great-grandparents, H.H. Bancroft, historian of the West and founder of The Bancroft Library at U.C. Berkeley, and his second wife, Matilda Bancroft, a writer and historian in her own right. After marrying H.H. in 1859, Emily wrote voluminous letters from […]

“My biography is the history of California:” Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and his Recuerdos

Sponsored by The Book Club of California Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807–90) grew up in Spanish California, became a leading military and political figure in Mexican California, and participated in some of the founding events of U.S. California, such as the Monterey Constitutional Convention and the first legislature. Like many Mexican Californios he lost most of […]

Nut Tree: From a California Ranch to a Design, Food, and Hospitality Icon

Sponsored by The Book Club of California Monday Sept. 11, 6:00 PM - 7:15 PM Pacific In-person and virtual presentation 5:30 PM Pacific - Reception 6:00 PM Pacific - Program Diane Power Zimmerman will share highlights from her book Nut Tree: From a California Ranch to a Design, Food, and Hospitality Icon. As the oldest […]

From Books to Bytes: Building the Next Generation of Bancroft Library Collections

Sponsored by The Book Club of California Monday Sept. 18, 6:00 PM - 7:15 PM Pacific In-person and virtual presentation 5:30 PM Pacific - Reception 6:00 PM Pacific - Program The Book Club of California | 312 Sutter Street | San Francisco, California 94108 Historian, writer, and collector Hubert Howe Bancroft sold his expansive collection […]

We are the Land: A History of Native California

Sponsored by The Book Club of California and Litquake 6:00 PM - 7:15 PM Pacific Virtual presentation Before there was such a thing as “California,” there were the People and the Land. Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush, and settler colonial society drew maps, displaced Indigenous People, and reshaped the land, but they did not make […]

The Poison Book Project: Arsenic & Other Heavy Metals in 19th-C. Bookbinding

Sponsored by The Book Club of California MONDAY, October 30, 2023 The Poison Book Project: Arsenic & Other Heavy Metals in 19th-C. Bookbinding 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM Pacific Virtual presentation 5:00 PM Pacific - Program The Poison Book Project investigates potentially toxic pigments used in the manufacture of Victorian-era bookcloth. Lead scientist Dr. Rosie […]

Paul Elder: A Literary Life in Seven Bookstores

Sponsored by The Book Club of California MONDAY, November 6, 2023 Paul Elder: A Literary Life in Seven Bookstores ** Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Lecture on the History of the Book Trade in California and the West ** 6:00 PM - 7:15 PM Pacific Exhibition opening with an in-person and virtual presentation 5:30 PM Pacific - […]

A Collection of Early English Books: Reading in the Age of Shakespeare

Sponsored by The Book Club of California An in-person and virtual presentation by Paul Chrzanowski, book collector Book collector Paul Chrzanowski donated his collection of nearly 150 early English books to the UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The collection includes copies of the second and fourth folio editions of Shakespeare’s collected plays (1632 and […]

The Newly Discovered Notebook of Isaac Newton

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, […]

The Life, Motto, and Library of William Walker (1570-1642), Vicar of Chiswick

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 […]

Empress San Francisco: The Pacific Rim, The Great West, and California at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition

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 […]