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On view at the Grolier Club from September 15 -November
20, 2004, Bound to be the Best showcases superlative
work from the The Club Bindery, the finest hand bindery ever
to operate in America. Drawn from the collections of Grolier
members Thomas G. Boss and Shirley McNerney Rendell, over 60
examples of these exquisite bindings -- noted for their
workmanship, beauty, and rarity -- will be highlighted. The
selection will be supplemented by original photographs of
the binders and bindery, a large collection of tools used to
craft these splendid objects, and even furniture from the
workshop, drawn from the collection of Grolier member
Kenneth Rendell.
Fine binders were almost unknown in nineteenth-century
America, forcing collectors to send their volumes to France
or England to be bound. Accordingly, a pioneering group of
Grolier Club members -- among them the great bibliophiles
Robert Hoe, Samuel Putnam Avery, William Loring Andrews,
Junius S. Morgan and Edwin C. Holden -- decided to create a
bindery in America that would rival the finest imported
work, regardless of cost. And that they did, employing as
their chief finishers the Frenchmen Henri Hardy (a former
apprentice to the great nineteenth-century binder Charles
Meunier), and Léon Maillard, thought by some to have
been the premier finisher of his time. Established in a New
York workshop, these artisans and their staff employed an
array of sumptuous binding leathers, often elaborately and
luxuriously tooled and gilt, along with exotic end-leaves
and papers, rivaling the output of the best Parisian
ateliers. But because it operated for little more than a
decade, the Club Bindery's best and most elaborate efforts
have seldom been seen by the public, and never properly
appreciated. This will be the first exhibition devoted
exclusively to the work of the Club Bindery since the 1906
Grolier Club exhibition of "Some of the Latest Artistic
Bindings Done at the Club Bindery."
Bound to be the Best will feature a colorful mosaic
of masterworks from the Club Bindery, including three
examples first shown at the landmark 1906 exhibition. Also
included will be representative bindings from the firm's
later incarnations: The Rowfant Bindery (1909-1913), The
Booklover's Shop (1914-1917) and the French Binders
(1918-192?).
Bound to be the Best: The Club Bindery provides a
rare glimpse into the creation of America's finest bindings
and highlight the long-neglected history of this firm. The
fully-illustrated accompanying catalogue will contain
detailed entries by curator Thomas G. Boss for all of the
exhibited items, prefaced by an exhaustive history of the
Club Bindery by Martin Antonetti, former librarian of the
Grolier Club and noted historian of the Club Bindery.
Published by Thomas G. Boss Fine Books, the
catalogue will be for sale at the Grolier Club and from
Thomas G. Boss Fine Books, 234 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA,
02116; phone: (617) 421-1700; fax: (617) 421-1733; e-mail:
info@bossbooks.com. The price is $195 for the trade edition
of 500 copies or $750 for a special edition limited to 50
copies.
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