Transactions of the Grolier Club of the City of New York, From July Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Nine to December Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen, Part IV [4] [1899-1919]

xi, 178 pp. On the evening of January 23, 1884, New York printing press manufacturer and book collector Robert Hoe invited to his home eight fellow bibliophiles to discuss the formation of a club devoted to the book arts. Although the nine men differed in age, occupation and social position, they shared the opinion that the arts of printing and typography in late 19th-century America were in need of reform. Hoe and his associates were all involved in the editing, design, production, sale or acquisition of fine books, and his invitation fired their imaginations. They were also men of action, and before the evening ended, a resolution had been adopted specifying the purpose of the organization, a committee had been appointed to choose a name for the group, and another to draft a constitution. Within two weeks, a suggestion that the fledgling organization call itself after the great French bibliophile Jean Grolier (1489/90-1565) had been passed by acclamation, a constitution duly drawn up, and "The Grolier Club of the City of New-York" was a going concern. - Grolier Club