Past

Past Exhibitions

The Grolier Club was one of the first organizations in America to regularly exhibit books as objects of artistic and historical interest, on a par with paintings and sculpture. In its 125-year history the Club has mounted more than eight hundred exhibitions, introducing American audiences to the work of authors from Homer to Kipling; to topics as diverse as flowers, chess, and the War of 1812; to excellence in the book arts as practiced by the Club Bindery, illustrator Fritz Kredel, and typographer/designer Bruce Rogers; to the artistry of figures such as J. M. Whistler, William Blake, and Antonio Frasconi; and to a wide range of works on paper, from Japanese prints to Art Nouveau posters to contemporary photographs by women. The archive presented here primarily consists of press releases for Grolier Club public exhibitions held in our Ground Floor Gallery since 1994; full details of all Grolier Club exhibitions, from the establishment of the Club to the present, can be found in the Club's anniversary volume ‘For Jean Grolier & His Friends’: 125 Years of Grolier Club Exhibitions & Publications, 1884-2009.

Click on any highlighted entry below, organized by Grolier Club season, to see more information about that exhibition.

September 2023 - July 2024  
September 7 - November 11, 2023. Presidents and Their Books: What They Read and What They Wrote. From the Collection of Susan Tane.  
September 26 - December 30, 2023. "The Best-Read Army in the World." Curated by Molly Manning.  
November 30, 2023 - February 10, 2024. "Whodunit? Key Books in Detective Fiction." From the Collection of Jeffrey Johnson.  
September 2022 - July 2023  
September 8 - November 12, 2022. "Aubrey Beardsley, 150 Years Young." Curated by Mark Samuels Lasner.  
September 28 - December 23, 2022. "Building the Book from the Ancient World to the Present Day: Five Decades of Rare Book School and the Book Arts Press." Curated by Barbara Heritage and Ruth-Ellen St. Onge.  
December 1, 2023 - February 11, 2023. "Animated Advertising: 200 Years of Promos, Premiums, and Pop-Ups." Curated by Elle G. K. Rubin.  
January 18 - April 8, 2023. "Pattern and Flow: A Golden Age of American Decorated Papers, 1960s-2000s." Curated by Mindy Dubansky  
March 2 - May 12, 2023. "'To Fight for the Poor With My Pen': Zoe Anderson Norris, Queen of Bohemia." From the Collection of Eve M. Kahn.  
April 26 - July 29, 2023. "A Century of Dining Out: The American Story in Menus, 1841-1941. From the Collection of Henry Voigt." Curated by Henry Voigt.  
September 2021 - July 2022  
September 29 - December 18, 2021. “Treasures from the Hispanic Society Library.” Curated by Mitchell Codding and John O’Neill.   
January 12 – April 16, 2022. “Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects. From the Collection of Glen S. Miranker.” Curated by Glen Miranker.   
May 4 - July 30, 2022. "Travelers, Tracks and Tycoons: The Railroad in American Legend and Life." Curated by Nicholas Fry.   
September 2020 - July 2021  
September 23, 2020 - January 2, 2021. "Further Impressions: Major Grolier Club Library Acquisitions, 2005-2020." Curated by Eric Holzenberg and Meghan Constantinou.  
January 20 - April 24, 2021. “Magazines and the American Experience.” Curated by Steven Lomazow.   
May 12 - July 31, 2021. “One Hundred Books Famous Typography.” Curated by Jerry Kelly.   
September 2019 - July 2020  
September 11 - November 23, 2019. "Peter Koch, Printer." Curated by Roberto Trujillo and Elizabeth Fischbach.  
December 10, 2019 - February 8, 2020. "Five Hundred Years of Women's Work: The Lisa Unger Baskin Collection." Curated by Lisa Unger Baskin, Naomi L. Nelson, and Lauren Reno.  
February 19 - April 25, 2020. "Open Set: Design Binding Today." Curated by Lang Ingalls.  
September 2018 - July 2019  
December 14, 2018 - February 2, 2019. "French Book Arts: Manuscripts, Books, Bindings, Prints, and Documents, 12th-21st Century." Curated by H. George Fletcher.  
February 20 - April 27, 2019. "Alphabet Magic: A Centennial Exhibition of the Work of Hermann & Gudrun Zapf." Curated by Jerry Kelly.  
May 15 - July 27, 2019. "Poet of the Body: New York's Walt Whitman." Curated by Susan Jaffe Tane and Karen Karbiener.  
September 2017 - July 2018  
September 13 - November 18, 2017. "Law’s Picture Books: The Yale Law Library Collection." Curated by Michael Widener and Mark S. Weiner.  
December 6, 2017 - February 3, 2018. "Radiant with Color & Art: McLoughlin Brothers and the Business of Picture Books, 1858-1920." Curated by Laura Wasowicz and Lauren Hewes.  
September 2016 - July 2017  
September 14 - November 19, 2016. "On Time: The Quest for Precision. An Exhibition of Books on Time and Timekeeping from the Linda Hall Library." Curated by Bruce Bradley.   
December 7, 2016 - February 4, 2017. "A True Friend of the Cause: Lafayette and the Anti-Slavery Movement." Curated by Olga Anna Duhl and Diane Windham Shaw.   
February 21 - April 29, 2017. "Images of Value: The Artwork Behind US Security Engraving 1830s-1980s." Curated by Mark Tomasko.  
May 17 - July 29, 2017. "The Revival of Calligraphy: 1906 to 2006." Curated by Jerry Kelly.   
September 2015 - July 2016  
September 15 - November 21, 2015. "Alice in a World of Wonderlands: The Translations of Lewis Carroll's Masterpiece." Curated by Jon Lindseth and Alan Tannenbaum.  
December 9, 2015 - February 6, 2016. "The Grolier Club Collects II." Curated by Arthur L. Schwarz and Eric J. Holzenberg.   
February 24 - May 14, 2016. "The Royal Game of the Goose: 400 Years of Printed Board Games." Curated by Adrian Seville.   
June 1 - July 30, 2016. "Artists & Others: The Imaginative French Book in the 21st Century." Curated by Paul Capelleveen.   
September 2014 - July 2015  
September 17 - November 22, 2014. "Evermore: The Persistence of Poe. The Edgar Allan Poe Collection of Susan Jaffe Tane." Curated by Susan Jaffe Tane and Gabriel Mckee.  
December 10, 2014 - February 7, 2015. "One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature." Curated by Chris Loker.  
February 25 - April 25, 2015. "Aldus Manutius: A Legacy More Lasting Than Bronze." Curated by G. Scott Clemons and H. George Fletcher.   
May 13 - August 1, 2015. "Grabhorn Press: 1920-1965 & Beyond." Curated by Andrew Hoyem and Simran Thadani.  
September 2013 - July 2014  
September 18 - November 23, 2013. "Extraordinary Women in Science & Medicine: Four Centuries of Achievement." Curated by Ronald K. Smeltzer, Paulette Rose, and Robert J. Ruben.  
December 11, 2013 - February 7, 2014. "Selling the Dwelling: The Books That Built America's Houses, 1775-2000." Curated by Richard Cheek.  
February 19 - April 26, 2014. "The Dean of American Printers: Theodore Low De Vinne and the Art Preservative of All Arts." Curated by Irene Tichenor and Michael Koenig.  
May 14 - August 2, 2014. "The Power of Words and Images in a World at War." Curated by Kenneth Rendell.  
September 2012 - July 2013  
September 12 – November 17, 2012. "In Pursuit of a Vision: Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society." Curated by The American Antiquarian Society.  
September 20 – November 2, 2012. "Strangers in a Strange Land: A History of Italian-Language American Imprints, 1830 - 1945." Curated by James Periconi.  
December 5, 2012 – February 2, 2013. "Rooms of Wonder: From Wunderkammer to Museum, 1599-1899." Curated by Florence Fearrington.  
February 20 - April 27, 2013. "American Little Magazines of the 1890s: A Revolution in Print." Curated by Kirsten MacLeod.   
May 15 - July 27, 2013. "Gardening by the Book: Celebrating 100 Years of the Garden Club of America." Curated by Arete Warren.   
September 2011 - July 2012  
September 14 – November 12, 2011. "Silver Screen/Silver Prints: Hollywood Glamour Portraits from the Robert Dance Collection." Curated by Anne H. Hoy.  
December 7, 2011 – February 4, 2012. "Printing for Kingdom, Empire, & Republic: Treasures from the Archives of the Imprimerie Nationale." Curated by H. George Fletcher.  
February 22 – April 28, 2012. "Torn in Two: the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War." Curated by The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center.  
May 16 – July 28, 2012. "Aaron Burr Returns to New York." Curated by Brian D. Hardison.  
September 2010 - July 2011  
September 15 – November 20, 2010. "John Wiley & Sons: 200 Years of Publishing." Curated by Frances Chaves and Peter Booth Wiley.  
December 8, 2010 – February 5, 2011. "Hand, Voice & Vision: Artists’ Books from Women’s Studio Workshop." Curated by Kathleen Walkup.  
February 15 – April 30, 2011. "The Enchantress: Emma, Lady Hamilton – The Jean Kislak Collection." Curated by Arthur Dunkelman.   
May 18 – July 30, 2011. "The Best of Both Worlds: Finely Printed Livres d'Artiste, 1910-2010." Curated by Jerry Kelly, Riva Castleman, and Anne H. Hoy.   
September 2009 - July 2010  
September 9 - November 21, 2009. "In Pursuit of Knowledge: Six Hundred Years of Leipzig University, 1409-2009." Curated by Dr. Ulrich Johannes Schneider.  
September 11 - November 6, 2009. "Emblemata: Early Printed Books on Symbolism. From the collection of Robin Raybould."  
November 19, 2009 – January 15, 2010. "The Grolier Club Creates: Book Arts by Club Members." Curated by The Grolier Club.  
December 9, 2009 – February 6, 2010. "A Monument More Durable than Brass: The Donald & Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson, from the collections of the Houghton Library, Harvard University." Curated by John Overholt.   
January 28 – March 12, 2010. "Mary Webb: Neglected Genius from the Collection of Mary Crawford." Curated by Mary Crawford.  
February 24 – May 1, 2010. "Lives on the Mississippi: Literature and Culture Along the Great River." Curated by John Neal Hoover.  
March 25 – May 28, 2010. "Beyond the Text: Artists’ Books from the Collection of Robert J. Ruben." Curated by Robert J. Ruben.  
May 19 – July 31, 2010. "Bound for Success: Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition." Curated by Lester Capon and Peter Jones.  
September 2008 - July 2009  
September 16 – November 22, 2008. "This Perpetual Fight: Love and Loss in Virginia Woolf’s Intimate Circle." Curated by William Beekman and Sarah Funke.   
December 10, 2008 – February 14, 2009. "'For Jean Grolier & His Friends': 125 Years of Grolier Club Exhibitions & Publications, 1884-2009." Curated by George Ong and Eric Holzenberg.  
March 4 – May 2, 2009. "Vivat Rex! Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Accession of Henry VIII." Curated by Arthur L. Schwarz.   
May 20 – August 1, 2009. "Cuban Artists' Books & Prints / Libros y Grabados de Artistas Cubanos 1985-2008." Curated by Linda S. Howe.  
September 2007 - July 2008  
September 11 - November 24, 2007. "Boston Collects: Celebrating the Bicentennial of the Boston Athenaeum." Curated by Stanley Cushing and David Dearinger.  
December 11, 2007 - February 2, 2008. "Benjamin Franklin, Writer and Printer." Curated by James N. Green and Peter Stallybrass. Sponsored by the Library Company of Philadelphia.  
February 20 - April 26, 2008. "Facing the Late Victorians: Portraits of Writers and Artists from the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection." Curated by Margaret D. Stetz.   
May 13 – July 26, 2008. "English in Print: From Caxton to Shakespeare to Milton." Curated by Valerie Hotchkiss and Fred C. Robinson.  
September 2006 - July 2007  
September 20 - November 25, 2006. "Guild of Book Workers Centenary Exhibition. A retrospective of work by notable Guild members, curated by Peter Verheyen, and an exhibition of contemporary work, juried by Karen Hanmer, Richard Minsky, and Don Rash."  
December 13, 2006 - February 3, 2007. "Hot Off the Press: Prints of 2006 from New York Printshops." Curated by Janice Oresman.  
February 21 - April 28, 2007. "Illustrating the Good Life: The Pissarros' Eragny Press, 1894-1914." Curated by Alice H. R. H. Beckwith.  
May 15 - July 28, 2007. "Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures." Curated by Julian Edison.   
September 2005 - July 2006  
September 14 - November 19, 2005. "'No Other Appetite': Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, and the Blood Jet of Poetry." Curated by Stephen C. Enniss and Karen V. Kukil.  
December 7, 2005 - February 4, 2006. "Books on Ice: British and American Literature of Polar Exploration." Curated by David and Deirdre Stam.  
February 21 - April 29, 2006. "Claire Van Vliet & the Janus Press: Celebrating Fifty Years." Curated by Ruth Fine and Neal Turtell.  
May 16 - July 29, 2006. "Teaching America to Draw: Instructional Manuals & Ephemera, 1794 to 1925." Curated by Albert A. Anderson, Jr., William L. Joyce, and Sandra K. Stelts.  
September 2004 - July 2005  
September 15 - November 20, 2004. "Bound to Be the Best: The Club Bindery." Curated by Thomas G. Boss.  
December 8, 2004 - February 5, 2005. "A Heavenly Craft: The Woodcut in Early Printed Books." Curated by Daniel De Simone.  
February 23 - April 23, 2005. "Past Presence: The Objects of Study at the Getty Research Institute." Curated by David Brafman.  
May 11 - July 30, 2005. "The Western Pursuit of the American Dream: Selections from the Collection of Kenneth W. Rendell." Curated by Kenneth W. Rendell.  
September 2003 - July 2004  
September 17 - November 22, 2003. "Whistler and His Circle in Venice." Curated by Eric Denker.  
December 10, 2003 - February 7, 2004. "The Winterthur Library Revealed: Five Centuries of Design & Inspiration." Curated by the Winterthur Library.  
February 25 - April 24, 2004. "Volvelles: the Magnificent Art of Circular Charting." Curated by Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel.  
May 12 - July 31, 2004. "Lasting Impressions: The Grolier Club Library." Curated by Eric Holzenberg and J. Fernando Peña.  
September 2002 - July 2003  
September 18 - November 23, 2002. "Quack, Quack, Quack: Sellers of Nostrums in Prints, Posters, Ephemera and Books." Curated by William Helfand.  
December 11, 2002 - February 1, 2003. "The Grolier Club Collects: Books, Manuscripts, & Works on Paper From the Collections of Grolier Club Members." Curated by Eric Holzenberg and T. Peter Kraus.  
February 19 - April 26, 2003. "Walter Hamady & The Perishable Press Limited: A Retrospective Exhibition (1964-2002)." Curated by Robert Bertholf.  
May 14 - August 2, 2003. "The Auroral Light: Photographs by Women from Grolier Club Member Collections." Curated by Anne Hoy and Kimball Higgs.  
September 2001 - July 2002  
September 25 - November 17, 2001. "Numismatics in the Age of Grolier." Curated by John Cunnally, Jonathan Kagan, and Stephen Scher.  
December 5, 2001 - February 9, 2002. "Borges: The Time Machine/La Máquina del Tiempo." Curated by Nicolas Helft and Alan Pauls.  
February 27 - April 27, 2002. "The Play's the Thing: Theatrical Manuscripts & Prompt Books from the Harvard Theatre Collection." Curated by Fredric Woodbridge Wilson.   
May 15 - July 27, 2002. "To Set the Darkness Echoing: An Exhibition of Irish Literature, 1950-2000." Curated by Stephen Enniss, James O'Halloran, and Ronald Schuchard.  
September 2000 - July 2001  
September 20 - November 18, 2000. "Fritz Kredel Centennial Exhibition." Curated by Judith Kredel Brown and Mathilde Kredel Brown.  
December 13, 2000 - February 10, 2001. "The Fine Art of Letters: The Work of Hermann Zapf." Curated by Jerry Kelly.  
February 21 - April 28, 2001. "A Mirror of the World: Monuments of World Literature from the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana." Curated by Dr. Martin Bircher.  
May 15 - August 4, 2001. "Voyages: A Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition." Curated by Mary Augusta Thomas.  
September 1999 - July 2000  
September 15 - November 16, 1999. "A Century for the Century: Fine Printed Books 1900-1999." Curated by Jerry Kelly and Martin Hutner.  
December 7, 1999 - January 29, 2000. "A Ha! Christmas." Curated by Jock Elliott.  
February 16 - April 29, 2000. "Remembering John Ruskin." Curated by R. Dyke Benjamin and Peter X. Accardo.  
May 17 - July 29, 2000. "The Art of Publishers' Bookbindings, 1815-1915." Curated by Ellen K. Morris and Edward S. Levin.  
September 1998 - July 1999  
September 15 - November 14, 1998. "One Text, Two Results: Printing on Paper and Vellum. From the Bridwell Library at Southern Methodist University." Curated by Decherd Turner.  
December 8, 1998 - February 6, 1999. "A Treasure-House of Books: The Library of Duke August of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel." Curated by the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel.  
February 24 - April 17, 1999. "Treasures from the Libraries of National Trust Country Houses." Curated by Nicolas Barker.  
May 5 - July 31, 1999. "Stamped With a National Character: Nineteenth-Century American Color Plate Books." Curated by William Reese.  
September 1997 - July 1998  
September 16 - November 15, 1997. "The Practice of letters: The Hofer Collection of Writing Manuals, 1514-1800." Curated by David Becker and Anne Anninger.  
December 10, 1997 - February 21, 1998. "The Book Room: Georgia O'Keeffe's Library in Abiquiu." Curated by Ruth Fine, Elizabeth Glassman, and Juan Hamilton.  
March 11 - May 2, 1998. "Emerging Voices: American Women Writers, 1650-1920." Curated by Iola Haverstick, Jean Ashton, Caroline Schimmel, and Mary Schlosser.  
May 19 - July 31, 1998. "Verdant Riches Revealed: A Selection from the Treasures of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden." Curated by the LuEsther T. Mertz Library.  
September 1996 - July 1997  
September 17 - November 23, 1996. "So Precious a Foundation: the Library of Leander Van Ess at the Burke Library of the Union Theological Seminary." Curated by Milton McC. Gatch.  
December 11, 1996 - February 15, 1997. "William Morris: The Collector as Creator." Curated by Mark Samuels Lasner.  
March 4 - May 3, 1997. "K.K. Merker: Serving the Muse. Stone Wall Press and Windhover Press, 1956-1996." Curated by Michael Peich.  
May 20 - July 31, 1997. "The Collector Collected: The Horblit Archive of Sir Thomas Phillipps at the Grolier Club." Curated by Eric Holzenberg.  
September 1995 - July 1996  
September 19 - November 22, 1995. "John Keats Bicentennial Exhibition." Curated by James Weil.  
December 6, 1995 - February 17, 1996. "Poets in a War: British Writers on the Battlefronts and the Home Front of the Second World War." Curated by Kenneth A. Lohf.  
March 5 - May 4, 1996. "Lithography's Faces: the First Generation." Curated by Colta Ives.  
May 21 - July 31, 1996. "The Books of Antonio Frasconi: 50 Years." Curated by Antonio Frasconi.  
September 1994 - July 1995  
September 20 - November 23, 1994. "One Hundred Books Famous in Medicine." Curated by Haskell F. Norman.  
December 13, 1994 - February 18, 1995. "Learning from the Greeks: an Exhibition Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Aldine Press." Curated by Robert Babcock.  
March 7 - May 6, 1995. "The Art of the Woodcut in the Italian Renaissance Book." Curated by Bennett Gilbert.  
May 23 - July 28, 1995. "The Work of Victor & Carolyn Hammer." Curated by James Birchfield.  
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