Join the Chicago Art Deco Society for a presentation by Teri J. Edelstein and Lisa Pevtzow.

Design books, Zuan-cho, were tools of Japan’s kimono trade centered in Kyoto. These textile pattern books began in the late 17th and 18th century with mainly naturalistic designs. By the end of the 19th century, printed by hand in color woodblock, their designs were often startling, experimental, aspirational, as well as traditional. A number of designs, even from the 1890s, look to our eyes as being Art Deco in style. They form, not only fascinating documents of the Japanese textile tradition, often with embedded symbolism, but a dynamic exemplar of Japan/Japonisme—demonstrating the influences and counterinfluences between Japan and the West.

Dr. Teri J. Edelstein, curator and museum consultant, is principal of Teri J. Edelstein Associates, Museum Strategies. She served as Deputy Director of The Art Institute of Chicago and previously as director of The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. She has taught at several universities.

Lisa Pevtzow has been collecting Japanese design books and textiles for more than than 20 years. Her books have been digitized by Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, as part of an effort to create a digital archive of Japanese cultural materials in museums and private collections in the United States and Europe. Some of her books and textiles will be on view in the current exhibit “Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan” at the Smart Museum.

May Midday Program

You probably misheard it over the radio. Barbra Streisand wasn’t singing about “Secondhand Rose” … she was belting out “Secondhand Prose.”

Just think about some of the most precious volumes in your collection. The ones that you didn’t purchase fresh off the press, but found in a used book store. Or bought at auction. Or stumbled upon at an estate sale.

This idea of acquiring previously owned books isn’t new, and during our May Midday, Aaron Pratt will draw on the formidable resources of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas to tell the tale of the emergence of trade in secondhand volumes.

Drawing on the Ransom Center’s copies of Seneca His Tenne Tragedies (1581) and Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1596), Pratt will transport you to the middle of the 17th entry and introduce you to a specialized trade in plays, poetry, and prose fiction. He’ll also reveal the origins of the narratives that we tell about the reception and ultimate canonization of Shakespeare, Spenser, and select contemporaries.

Much published, Aaron Pratt, serves as the Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at the Harry Ransom Center and as Assistant Professor, English.

Don’t just hear about this program. Experience it first hand. Register today!

Live attendance and optional lunch

View Zoom program on eighth floor, Steel Room, Union League Club. Presentation begins at 12:00 PM CT. Optional lunch immediately following in the fourth floor Rendezvous. $35 includes non-alcoholic beverage, a cup of soup, and your choice of sandwich, salad, or hot entree, tax, and tip.

Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

Transportation to the Union League Club at 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

The Union League Club is easily accessible through many public transportation methods. Additionally, the following options are available for those who wish to travel by cab or car.

The Union League Club front desk offers a connection to cab service through Curb. The desk will call cabs for members and all guests while allowing riders to remain inside until the cab arrives. No curb side wait. Cabs will accept all payment forms, following the payment procedures you experience with a street-hailed cab.

If you are traveling by car, the Union League Club offers valet parking for Caxton events at $35.00. You must register and prepay in advance through the Caxton Club. Valet parking options will now be included as an option with all event registrations.

Spot Hero is an independent parking option, generally offering spots at the 318 S. Federal Street garage adjacent to the Union League Club. You may reserve and pay for a guaranteed parking spot through the Spot Hero app or website (spothero.com).

May Evening Program

Presented as part of the BHL Annual Meeting

Click here to learn more about the BHL.

Join Martin Kalfatovic (Biodiversity Heritage Library Program Director and Associate Director of Digital Programs and Initiatives at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives), Leora Siegel (Senior Director of the Lenhardt Library, Chicago Botanic Garden), and Gretchen Rings (Museum Librarian and Head of Library Collections for the Marie Louise Rosenthal Library, Field Museum of Natural History) for a presentation and discussion of the growth and history of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL).

A global consortium with over one hundred contributors, headquartered at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, BHL showcases nearly six hundred years of landmark natural science publications as well as the most up to date scientific research to help stem biodiversity loss and combat the climate crisis.

Register today!

Social period with beer, wine, or soft drink, and passed appetizers: 5:30–6:30 PM CT. Presentation 6:30.

Program is complimentary.

Registration required. NO EXCEPTIONS. The event will close when it reaches capacity, but no later than May 13.

Transportation to the Union League Club at 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

The Union League Club is easily accessible through many public transportation methods. Additionally, the following options are available for those who wish to travel by cab or car.

The Union League Club front desk offers a connection to cab service through Curb. The desk will call cabs for members and all guests while allowing riders to remain inside until the cab arrives. No curb side wait. Cabs will accept all payment forms, following the payment procedures you experience with a street-hailed cab.

Spot Hero is an independent parking option, generally offering spots at the 318 S. Federal Street garage adjacent to the Union League Club. You may reserve and pay for a guaranteed parking spot through the Spot Hero app or website (spothero.com).

Councilors and invited guests only. If you are interested in becoming a Councilor, Officer, or joining a committee, please contact secretary@caxtonclub.org.

June Midday Program

Save the date. Program description to follow.

Live attendance and optional lunch

View Zoom program on eighth floor, Steel Room, Union League Club. Presentation begins at 12:00 PM CT. Optional lunch immediately following in the fourth floor Rendezvous. $35 includes non-alcoholic beverage, a cup of soup, and your choice of sandwich, salad, or hot entree, tax, and tip.

Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

Transportation to the Union League Club at 65 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

The Union League Club is easily accessible through many public transportation methods. Additionally, the following options are available for those who wish to travel by cab or car.

The Union League Club front desk offers a connection to cab service through Curb. The desk will call cabs for members and all guests while allowing riders to remain inside until the cab arrives. No curb side wait. Cabs will accept all payment forms, following the payment procedures you experience with a street-hailed cab.

If you are traveling by car, the Union League Club offers valet parking for Caxton events at $35.00. You must register and prepay in advance through the Caxton Club. Valet parking options will now be included as an option with all event registrations.

Spot Hero is an independent parking option, generally offering spots at the 318 S. Federal Street garage adjacent to the Union League Club. You may reserve and pay for a guaranteed parking spot through the Spot Hero app or website (spothero.com).

Stop at the Caxton Club’s booth at the 2024 Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers Association’s Chicago Book & Paper Fair. Booksellers from all across the midwest and the USA offer fine antiquarian, rare, collectible, first edition, and other books in many fields. Click for more information.

Caxton Club members will receive a complimentary entry ticket and a coupon redeemable for a complimentary Caxton Club publication in the May/June 2024 Caxtonian.

June Evening Program

Save the date. Program description to follow.

Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

Zoom begins at 6:30PM CT/7:30 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.

Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

Designated members only. Please contact secretary@caxtonclub.org.