The Club of Odd Volumes
Encyclopedia
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
and society of bibliophiles
Bibliophilia
Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. A bookworm is someone who loves books for their content, or who otherwise loves reading. The -ia-suffixed form "bibliophilia" is sometimes considered to be an incorrect usage; the older...
founded on January 25, 1887, in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The club was founded by eighteen Boston bibliophiles in order to "promote literary and artistic tastes, the exhibition of books, and social relations among [its] members." The term odd, as used in the club's name, is an eighteenth-century usage meaning varied or unmatched. The club and its name were likely inspired by 'The Sette of Odd Volumes', an English bibliophile dining-club founded in 1878 by Bernard Quaritch
Bernard Quaritch
Bernard Quaritch, full name Bernard Alexander Christian Quaritch, was a German-born British bookseller and collector....
, among others.
The club began primarily as a dinner club complementing established social clubs like the Algonquin Club
Algonquin Club
The Algonquin Club of Boston is a private social club in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1886 by a group including General Charles Taylor. Originally a men's business club, it is now open to men and women of all races, faiths, and nationalities....
, Harvard Club
Harvard Club of Boston
The Harvard Club of Boston is a private social club located in Boston, Massachusetts. Its membership is essentially restricted to alumni and associates of Harvard University...
, Somerset Club
Somerset Club
The Somerset Club is a private social club in Boston, Massachusetts, founded perhaps as early as 1826.The original club was informal, without a clubhouse. By the 1830s this had evolved into a group called the Temple. In 1851 the group purchased the home of Benjamin W. Crowninshield, located at...
, and the Union Club
Union Club of Boston
The Union Club of Boston, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest gentlemen's clubs in the United States. It is located on Beacon Hill, adjacent to the Massachusetts State House. The clubhouse at No...
. In its earliest years the club was somewhat roving holding meetings and dinners in other clubs and at the Boston Athenæum
Boston Athenæum
Boston Athenæum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of only sixteen extant membership libraries, meaning that patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use the Athenæum's services...
. The club rented a sizable building on Beacon Hill's Mount Vernon Street before buying its own five story Federal Style
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
townhouse across the street in 1920. The club has a substantial library of antiquarian books and an archive of letterpress printing.
Between its founding and 1900, the club expanded its membership and activities to include an active exhibition and publishing program as well as the maintenance of a library. Members in the Club of Odd Volumes are often associated with Boston's publishing business or universities. They often include printers and typophiles. The club continues to offer exhibitions on the printing arts, typography, and antiquarian books.
The club has hosted authors, book designers, artists, politicians, and printers. Notable members and guests include Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, Theodore L. de Vinne, William Addison Dwiggins
William Addison Dwiggins
William Addison Dwiggins was a U.S. type designer, calligrapher, and book designer...
, Frederic Goudy
Frederic Goudy
Frederic W. Goudy was a prolific American type designer whose typefaces include Copperplate Gothic, Kennerley, and Goudy Old Style. He also designed, in 1938, University of California Oldstyle, for the sole proprietary use of the University of California Press...
, Rockwell Kent
Rockwell Kent
Rockwell Kent was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, and writer.- Biography :Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York, the same year as fellow American artists George Bellows and Edward Hopper...
, Bruce Rogers, Rudolf Ruzicka
Rudolph Ruzicka
Rudolph Ruzicka prominent Czech-born American wood engraver, etcher, illustrator, typeface designer, and book designer. Ruzicka designed typefaces and wood engraving illustrations for Daniel Berkeley Updike's Merrymount Press, and was a designer for, and consultant to, the Mergenthaler Linotype...
, Daniel Berkeley Updike
Daniel Berkeley Updike
Daniel Berkeley Updike was an American printer and historian of typography.Updike was born at Providence, Rhode Island. In 1880 he joined the publishers Houghton, Mifflin & Company, of Boston as an errand boy. He worked for the firm's Riverside Press and trained as a printer but soon moved to...
and Walter Muir Whitehill
Walter Muir Whitehill
Walter Muir Whitehill was an author, historian and the Director and Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum from 1946 to 1973. He was also editor for publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts from 1946 to 1978. From 1951 to 1972 Whitehill was a professor at Harvard University.Whitehill's...
.
Works published by the club
- First exhibition. 1889
- Yearbook. 1894
- Constitution and By-laws. 1904
- George Emery Littlefield. The early Massachusetts press, 1638-1711. 1907.
- Yearbook. 1911.
- Worthington Chauncey Ford. Boston book market, 1679-1700. 1917
Works about the club
- P. Meritt. Club of Odd Volumes. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Volume 9. 1915.
External links
- Club of Odd Volumes local information from Yahoo