THE PHILOBIBLON CLUB

Meetings are held, normally on the evening of the second Tuesday of each month, from October through May, with the exception of January. Once each season--usually in February--the Club's Edwin Wolf Memorial Lecture honors the memory of Edwin Wolf 2nd, one of Philadelphia's greatest bookmen.

For reservations, consult the Club's Secretary, Thomas Whitehead (Head, Special Collections, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA 19122). Dinner is served towards 6:30 P.M., but it is possible to attend talks (which begin at about 7:45/8:00 P.M.) without also attending the Club's dinner. Since the opportunity for book-related conviviality as much as the chance to hear the speaker is one of the virtues of Club evenings, however, to do so would seem rather to miss the point.

George Allen (formerly of William H. Allen, Booksellers, 2031 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103) was the President of the Club for the quarter of a century preceding his death on November 20, 1998. The Club has mounted, in his memory, the obituary notice published by The Philadelphia Inquirer on November 25, 1998, and eulogies delivered at the Memorial Service for George Allen held on November 29 and at the Club's December 8 meeting.

Contacts (with their e-mail addresses as live links) include:

• Steven D. Rothman (220 West Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103; and a collector), President (elected 8 December 1998)

• Cynthia Buffington (Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company, P.O. Box 9536, Philadelphia, PA 19124), Membership Chair

• James N. Green (The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107), Treasurer

• David Holmes (David Holmes, Autographs, P.O. Box 548, Collingswood, NJ 08108), Director

• Mary Leahy (Rosemont College, 1400 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, PA 19010), Director

• Brian Stilwell (219 Sugartown Road [L204], Wayne, PA 19087; SEPTA; and a collector), Director

• Daniel Traister (Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, University of Pennsylvania 19104-6206), Program Chair (it is his home page of which this announcement is part)

• Thomas Whitehead (address above), Secretary

If you are interested in joining The Philobiblon Club, please communicate directly with Ms. Buffington (Membership Chair), any member of the Board, or any member of the Club.

Information about Club publications is available here.

Meetings begin at 6 P.M. and, unless otherwise specified, take place at The Franklin Inn Club, St. James and Camac Streets, Philadelphia.

1. October 16, 2001: Peter Stallybrass (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "Dressing Adam and Eve: Text versus Image"

2. November 13, 2001: Joseph Farrell (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "The Bookman's Lexicon, the Author's Body, and Ancient Roman Texts"

3. December 11, 2001: David Holmes (Collingswood, NJ)
   
   "A Spring, Not a Pump: Collecting Kenneth Grahame"

4. February 12, 2002: Michael Gamer (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "Falling off Parnassus (A Della Cruscan Improvisation)"

5. March 12, 2002: David Szewczyk (Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company)
   
   collecting books in Spain

6. April 9, 10, 11, 2002: NOTE DATE & LOCATION CHANGES

   THESE MEETINGS TAKE PLACE AT VAN PELT-DIETRICH LIBRARY, 3420 WALNUT STREET, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
   

   MEETINGS START AT 5:30 P.M. -- THERE WILL BE A RECEPTION, BUT DINNER IS ON YOUR OWN!
   Nicolas Barker (Editor, The Book Collector
   The A. S. W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

7. May 14, 2002: Thomas Kinsella (The Richard Stocton College of New Jersey) and Willman Spawn (Philadelphia)
   
   on bookbinding

The speaker roster for the last several years (1995-2000) follows. Some of the talks presented on these occasions have been mounted on this site. NOTE: All rights to these essays, most especially including copyright, remain their authors's property. These are NOT essays in the public domain.

1995-1996

1. October 10, 1995: Janice Fisher (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "I Married a Book Collector: One Woman's Poignant Story"

2. November 14, 1995: Cynthia Buffington (Philadelphia)
   
   "Hey, Gang--Let's Put on a Book Store!"

3. December 12, 1995: Fred Schreiber (New York)
   
   "My Life With Books: How One Thing Leads to Another"

4. February 13, 1996: Daniel Traister (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "Is There a Future for Special Collections?--and Should There Be?"

5. March 12, 1996: Bruce McKittrick (Narberth)
   
   "From Cloak to Cabinet: The Emergence of Rare Books in France"

6. April 9, 1996: Amanda Hall (London)
   
   "Selling Eighteenth-Century Pulp Fiction: Amanda Hall Talks Trash"

7. May 7, 1996: Jocelyn Konigsmark (Wayne)
   
   "Confessions of a General Antiquarian"

1996-1997

1. October 8, 1996: James N. Green (The Library Company of Philadelphia)
   
   "'The cowl knows best what will suit in Virginia': Parson Weems on Southern Readers"
   This essay is forthcoming, in another form, in Printing History, the journal of the American Printing History Association.

2. November 12, 1996: Archibald C. Elias, Jr. (Philadelphia)
   
   "Jonathan Swift's Annotated Copy of His own Contests and Dissensions, with Other Pamphlets from His Library"
   This essay is now available in print, in another form, in PQ [i.e., Philological Quarterly], 75 [1996], 167-195.

3. December 10, 1996: Michael T. Ryan (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "Reflections on Best Sellers: Some Thoughts in Season"

4. February 11, 1997: George Allen (Philadelphia)
   
   "Seventy-seven Years in the Book Business: Allen's Bookstore, 1918-1996"
   This, the 1996-1997 Edwin Wolf 2nd Memorial Lecture, is now available in a limited edition as a printed book from Oak Knoll Books.

5. March 11, 1997: James Tanis (Bryn Mawr College
   
   "A Baker's Dozen: Twenty-Seven Years of Bryn Mawr Acquisitions"

6. April 8, 1997: Ruth Hughes (The Library Company of Philadelphia)
   
   "The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk"

7. May 13, 1997: Elliott Shore (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and about to move to Bryn Mawr College)
   
   "The German Society of Pennsylvania: History Resurgent"

1997-1998

1. October 14, 1997: William Stoneman (formerly Scheide Librarian, Princeton University, and Librarian, Houghton Library, Harvard University)
   
   "'The Same Purposeful Instinct': Reflections on The Scheide Library"

2. November 11, 1997: James N. Green (Library Company of Philadelphia)
   
   "Readers and Reading in Colonial Philadelphia: Thomas Bradford's Circulating Library"

3. December 9, 1997: Peter Stallybrass (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "Fingers in Books"

4. February 10, 1998: Melissa J. Homestead (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "'Uncle Tom in German and in Court': Harriet Beecher Stowe's Copyright Suit against Philadelphia Publisher F.W. Thomas"

5. March 10, 1998: Andrea Immel (Cotsen Librarian, Princeton University)
   
   "William Hogarth and the Spirit of John Newbery's Children's Books"

6. April 7, 1998: Samuel A. Streit (The John Hay Library, Brown University)
   
   "The Browns of Rhode Island: Collectors and Benefactors Extraordinaires"

7. May 9, 1998 (held as part of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies Philadelphia tour): William Helfand(New York City)
   
   "The Artist Looks at Disease and Death"

1998-1999

1. October 13, 1998: James O'Donnell (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "From Papyrus to Cyberspace: Why Books Are in No Danger"

2. November 10, 1998: Evelyn Tribble (Temple University)
   
   "Citation and Its Discontents"

3. December 8, 1998: The talk originally scheduled for this date was CANCELLED because of the recent death (November 20, 1998) of Club President George Allen. On this date, the Club presented
   A Celebration of George Allen

4. February 9, 1999: Daniel Traister (University of Pennsylvania)
   
   "Dead Books"

5. March 9, 1999: James Tanis (Director of Libraries emeritus, Bryn Mawr College)
   
   "Leaves of Gold: A Glimpse of Manuscript Illuminations in the PACSCL Libraries"

6. April 13, 1998: Mirjam Foot (The British Library)
   "Form and Content, Form and Use"

7. May 11, 1998: Warren MacDougall
   
   "Thomas Dobson's Secret Scottish Backer Revealed"

1999-2000

1. October 12, 1999: Henry Morris (Newtown, Pennsylvana)
   
   "Theodore Bachaus, D.S.E.: A San-Serriffean Literary Legend"

2. November 9, 1999: Enid Mark
   
   "An Artist in the Book-World; or, The ELM Press: Not Just Another Private Press"

3. December 14, 1999: Barbara Traister (Lehigh University)
   
   "A Sixteenth-Century London Physician and His Books"

4. February 8, 2000: Michael Benjamin (Philadelphia)
   
   "African Americana: What's It Worth? The Musing of an African American Bibliophile"

5. March 14, 2000: Kenneth Finkel (Executive Director of Arts and Culture Service, WHYY)
   
   "Philadelphia Philanthropy and Collections: Corrupted Content"

6. April 11, 2000: Hugh Amory (Harvard University)
   
   "An Eighteenth-Century American Rare-Book Club: the Prince Collection"

7. May 9, 2000: Philip Bishop
   
   "The Mosher Books in Some of Their Graphical Aspects"

2000-2001

1. October 10, 2000: Mike Peich (West Chester University)
   
   "The Aralia Press"

2. November 14, 2000: J. B. Post (Philadelphia)
   
   "Copyright Litigation for Fun & Profit"

3. December 12, 2000: Linda J. Langham (Langhorne)
   
   "Virginia's Pages: On Collecting Woolf's Books and Letters"

4. February 13, 2001: Don C. Skemer (Princeton University)
   
   "Archeology of the Medieval Book"

5. March 13, 2001: Thomas R. Adams (Providence, RI)
   
   on the Philadelphia book world of the 1940s and 1950s (Edwin Wolf 2nd Memorial Lecture)

6. April 17, 2001: Jenny Thompson (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
   
   "With Pen and Penknife: Author Portraits in Philadelphia Manuscripts"

7. NOTE CHANGED DATE:
   May 2, 2001 (A WEDNESDAY!): Bob Kieft (Haverford)
   
   on Haverford's library