Guide to the Anne Lyon and Sherman Post Haight Papers, 1907-2006
OCLC/RLIN No. (Unique ID):
1277313994
Extent:
14 boxes (5.84 linear ft.)
Abstract:
This collection consists of
correspondence, books, printed ephemera, paste-ups for book designs, research
and publicity documents relating primarily to the bookish activities of Anne
Lyon Haight (1891-1977) and, to a lesser degree, of Sherman Post Haight (1899-1980).
Access Restrictions:
*Collection
is unprocessed and not open for research use. Copyright
restrictions may apply; please contact repository for requests for copying and
for authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce the materials.
Preferred
Citation:
[Description
and date of item], [Box/folder number], Anne Lyon and Sherman Post Haight
papers, 1907-2006, The Grolier Club of New York.
About the Finding Aid:
This finding aid was prepared by
Meghan Constantinou in Microsoft Word at the Grolier Club, October 2021. There
is an item-level inventory prepared by the bookseller available by request, but
it does not correspond with current box numbers.
Provenance:
This collection was purchased from the Trust
of Tracy Griswold via Dan Dwyer, Johnnycake Books, February 12, 2021. Mrs. Griswold
is the daughter of Sherman and Anne Lyon Haight.
Access Points:
Names:
Bennett,
Paul A., 1897-1966
Evans,
Margaret B.
Greene,
Belle da Costa
Haight,
Anne Lyon, 1895-1977
Haight,
Sherman Post, 1889-1980
Mackall,
Leonard L. (Leonard Leopold), 1879-1937
Rogers,
Bruce, 1870-1957
Rollins,
Carl Purington, 1880-1960
Rudge,
William Edwin, 1876-1931
Ruzicka,
Rudolph, 1883-1978
Updike,
Daniel Berkeley, 1860-1941
Warde, Frederic,
1894-1939
Winship,
George Parker, 1871-1952
Subjects:
American
Institute of Graphic Arts
Book clubs
(discussion groups)—United States—20th century
Book
collectors—United States—20th century
Grolier
Club
Hroswitha
Club
Merrymount
Press
Overbrook
Press
Women Book
Collectors
Biographical/Historical Note:
Anne Lyon
Haight (née Anne Pardee Lyon) (1891-1977), born in St. Paul, Minnesota, was an
author, book collector, and friend of contemporary book artists such as Bruce
Rogers and Frederic Warde. She was a founding member of the Hroswitha Club,
serving as secretary and president. She was credited with starting the
Children's Book of the Month Club, and other club memberships included the
National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, the Women's Theodore
Roosevelt Memorial Association, the Society of Woman Geographers, the Women Fly
Fishers Club, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Colony Club
(chairwoman of the library committee) and the Garden Club of America
(chairwoman of the library committee). An enthusiastic aviator, she went on the
first flight to South America with Lindberg, flew in the first helicopter with
Sikorsky, and went on the first commercial flight to Europe. She was also
interested in native American cultures and undertook expeditions in Central and
South America to conduct research.
She was
the author of numerous essays and books, including, most notably: Banned
Books (R.R. Bowker, 1935, 1st ed.); “Why did Dickens prefer to remain
anonymous?” (The Colophon, 1939); Are Women the Natural Enemies of
Books? (American Institute for Graphic Arts); A Portrait of Latin
America as seen by her Printmakers (Hastings House, 1946); Morals,
Manners, Etiquette and The Three Rs (Stanford CT: Overbrook Press, 1949);
and Hroswitha of Gandersheim: her life, times, and works (New York:
Hroswitha Club, 1965). She married Sherman Post Haight in 1914, and the couple had
residences in Manhattan and Litchfield, Connecticut.
Sherman
Post Haight (1889-1980) was a Grolier Club member from 1916 to 1980, serving on
its Council, House Committee, Publications Committee, Committee on Public
Exhibitions, and Library Committee. Together, he and Anne researched and
collected on topics relating to George Cruickshank, Thackeray, and Dickens.
Scope and Content Note:
This
collection consists of correspondence, books, printed ephemera, paste-ups for
book designs, research and publicity documents relating primarily to the
bookish activities of Anne Lyon Haight (1891-1977) and, to a lesser degree, of
Sherman Post Haight (1899-1980). The material documents the Haights' activities
as book collectors, as scholars, and as friends and patrons of leading
twentieth-century book artists, especially Bruce Rogers and Frederic Warde.
Includes research notes, clippings, original typescripts, correspondence, and
copies of their publications, as well as numerous books, pamphlets, and
ephemera received as gifts, many with inscriptions or letters from the donors.
The Haights' collecting activities are documented through personal library
catalogues (including lists of the Cruickshank and Thackeray collections given
to Trinity College Library), correspondence with booksellers, and a small
collection of books assembled by Anne Lyon Haight relating to the Book of Ruth.
There are also documents and catalogues related to the numerous clubs to which
Anne Lyon Haight belonged, including the Junior Book Club, the Book of the
Month Club for Children, the Hroswitha Club, the Woman's Geographer Club, and
the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Other items of interest include a small
number of books inscribed by various donors to Belle da Costa Greene; and a
1907 sketchbook from Anne Lyon Haight's teenage years in Gilbertsville, NY,
containing notes and drawings of various subjects made by her and others.
Collection
also includes at least a dozen title-page designs, binding dummies, and
sketches by Bruce Rogers and Frederic Warde. Highlights include a paste-up by
Warde for the title page and copyright page of Banned Books; a small paste-up
of Rogers' The Construction of Roman Letters (Grolier Club, 1917); a designer's
dummy for The Aesthetic Values that are to be found in the Printed Work of
Bruce Rogers, with an original drawing by Rudolph Ruzicka; and a partial
designer's dummy for Warde's design of the Limited Editions Club Alice in
Wonderland (1932). Also of interest is a small notebook with notes and drawings
for book designs by Warde, produced in London and Paris in 1925 when he and
Beatrice Warde went to work with Stanley Morison.
Correspondents
include (among others): Paul Bennett, Margaret B. Evans (Overbrook Press),
Leonard Mackall, Bruce Rogers, Carl Purington Rollins, William Edwin Rudge,
Rudolf Ruzicka, Frederic Warde, D.B. Updike, and George Parker Winship.
Arrangement Note:
This
collection arrived in the order arranged by the bookseller and has not yet been
rearranged. Materials are loosely divided by category.
| Box # |
Contents |
| 1 |
Anne
Lyon Haight’s Book of Ruth collection
|
| 2 |
Rollins/Greene |
| 3 |
Thackeray/Dickins/Grolier |
| 4 |
Thackeray/Grolier |
| 5 |
Banned Books; clippings |
| 6 |
Correspondence (includes LP with ALH interview) |
| 7 |
Pamphlets/Children |
| 8 |
Card catalogue/Jr Book Club/Banned Books |
| 9 |
Books about books |
| 10 |
Books about books |
| 11 |
Frederic Warde books and correspondence |
| 12 |
Bruce Rogers/AIGA |
| 13 |
Banned Books/Hroswitha |
| 14 |
Books by the Haights |
| |
|