The Club of Odd Volumes

The Club of Odd Volumes
77 Mt. Vernon Street
General information
Location	Beacon Hill
Address	77 Mt. Vernon Street
Town or city	Boston
Country	United States
Coordinates	42°21′30″N 71°04′01″W / 42.358458°N 71.067054°W

The Club of Odd Volumes is a private social club and society of bibliophiles founded in 1887, in Boston, Massachusetts.

History

"His Oddship" Alex T. Hollingsworth, president, Club of Odd Volumes, 1893-94

The club was founded on January 29, 1887 with the following intention:

The objects shall be to promote an interest in, and a love for whatever will tend to make literature attractive as given in the form of printed and illustrated volumes, to mutally assist in making researches and collections of first and rare editions, and to promote elegance in the production of Odd Volumes.^[1]

The term odd, as used in the club's name, is an eighteenth-century usage meaning varied or unmatched.

The Sette of Odd Volumes, an English bibliophile dining-club founded in 1878, is considered the inspiration for the organization. An early pamphlet of this Boston organization is titledYe Sette of Odd Volumes.^{[2][nb 1]}

The club began primarily as a dinner club, complementing established social clubs like the Somerset Club, Algonquin Club, and Harvard Club.^[4][5] The group conducts lectures, meets for dinner, collects fine books and develop literary exhibits.^[6]

The club has hosted authors, book designers, artists, politicians, and printers.

Building

The club has been at 77 Mt. Vernon Street in Beacon Hill since 1936; The building was the home of Sarah Wyman Whitman. Prior to 1936, they owned the buildings at 50, 52 and 54 Mt. Vernon Street.^[6]

Library and publications

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, currently limited to a maximum of 87, are often associated with Boston's universities, museums and libraries. They often include rare and antiquarian book collectors, curators, scholars, printers and typophiles. The club continues to offer exhibitions on a wide variety of themes, including the printing arts, typography, and antiquarian books.

The club has a substantial library of antiquarian books and an archive of letterpress printing.

The collection, only accessible by club members, has about 2,200 titles.^[7]

Publications

Published about themselves

• Club of Odd Volumes (1889). Annual Exhibition.
• Sette of Odd Volumes (Book club) (1894). Booklets. Chiswick Press.
• Club of Odd Volumes (1904). Constitution and By-laws with a List of the Officers and Members: April 1904.
• George Emery Littlefield (1907). The Early Massachusetts Press, 1638-1711. The Club of Odd Volumes.
• Club of Odd Volumes (1915). Year Book. s.n.
• Worthington Chauncey Ford; Club of Odd Volumes (1917). The Boston book market, 1679-1700. The Club of Odd volumes.

Works of authors and poets

The following is a short selection of published works:^[8]

• Club of Odd Volumes (1895). Early American Poetry: Morrell, William New-England. Club of Odd Volumes.
• Club of Odd Volumes (1896). Early American Poetry: Mather Cotton. A poem and an elegy. Club of Odd Volumes.
• Club of Odd Volumes (1897). Tenth Anniversary Exhibition at the Boston Art Club, February 17-24, 1897. University Press.
• George Emery Littlefield; Club of Odd Volumes (1907). The early Massachusetts press, 1638-1711. The Club of Odd Volumes.
• Charles Lemuel Nichols; Club of Odd Volumes (1912). Isaiah Thomas, printer, writer & collector: a paper read April 12, 1911, before the Club of Odd Volumes. With a bibliography of the books printed by Isaiah Thomas.

Notable members

Notable members include

• Winston Churchill
• Theodore L. de Vinne
• William Addison Dwiggins
• William Crowninshield Endicott
• Frederic Goudy
• Rockwell Kent
• Lawrence Lowell
• Fred Ball Rice - Rice & Hutchins
• Bruce Rogers
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Rudolf Ruzicka
• Robert Gould Shaw
• Daniel Berkeley Updike
• Walter Muir Whitehill

Gallery

• 

  Exhibition at the Boston Art Club, 1889

• 

  Bookplate, 1904

• 

  The Club of Odd Volumne, image of Mt. Vernon Street building, 1911

See also

• List of American gentlemen's clubs

Notes

1. The archives of the Sette of Odd Volumes are now at Cambridge University Library.^[3]

References

1. Percival Merritt (1915). "The Club of Odd Volumes". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. The Society. pp. 21–22. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
2. Percival Merritt (1915). "The Club of Odd Volumes". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. The Society. p. 23. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
3. Sette of Odd Volumes. Cambridge University Library.
4. Club of Odd Volumes (1915). Year Book. s.n. p. 53. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
5. Percival Merritt (1915). "The Club of Odd Volumes". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. The Society. p. 25. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
6. May Melvin Petronella (11 August 2004). Victorian Boston today: twelve walking tours. UPNE. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-55553-605-3. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
7. David H Stam (2001). International dictionary of library histories. Taylor & Francis. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-57958-244-9. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
8. "Search for author = Club of Odd Volumes". Google. Retrieved April 28, 2013.