The Work of a Book Club: An Address Prepared for the Washington Square College Book Club of New York University

New York: Privately Printed for the Book Club, New York University, Washington Square, 1937. First and only edition of Grolier Club librarian Ruth Granniss’s address to the newly founded Washington Square College Book Club, a bibliophilic organization of New York University students. At the time of her talk, Granniss had served as the librarian of The Grolier Club for over thirty years, tripling the size of the collections, organizing exhibitions and catalogues, and overseeing the library’s move to its current clubhouse on 60th Street. The volume opens with a brief account of Granniss’s career, and a bibliography of Grolier Club catalogues and other publications written wholly or in part by her. In her talk, Granniss offers a history of private book clubs on both sides of the Atlantic, from the Roxburghe Club to Les Bibliophiles Français to The Grolier Club itself. She then turns to the American tradition of collegiate book clubs, which her New York University audience has joined: “Your club has a very interesting feature in its prizes for the collections of members. And don’t think that one must necessarily have much money to be a collector. The beginnings may be made in a very small way and the joy of the chase be as keen as that of a Grolier or a Hoe.” In the decade after her address to the Washington Square College Book Club, Granniss would become a founding member of the Hroswitha Club, an organization for women book collectors and bibliophiles, active from 1944 to 2004. A near-fine copy of a scarce title. Side-stapled pamphlet, measuring 9 x 6 inches: 35, [1]. Original plain card wrappers, original book-patterned dust jacket printed in green and purple. Text printed in black with purple decorations. Ownership signature, dated 1937, to flyleaf. A few tiny marks and light sunning to jacket, staples rubbed through jacket at spine. (Inventory #: 1003961)