I was kindly walked through the show by Megan Smith, Exhibitions Coordinator for the Grolier Club, who made the following interesting observations about the current exhibit: “The members [of the Grolier Club] have really enjoyed this exhibition. They loved participating in it as they got an opportunity to showcase what book collectors are interested in. The show really does show you how book collecting is alive and well at the dawn of the internet age. The diversity within the show – the sheer breadth of their interests – is amazing.” Smith also paid tribute to the exhibition’s co-curators, Eric Holzenberg and H.P. Straus: “There were about 130 items in total, and a huge diversity of items at that. Peter and Eric were able to look at this huge body of material and immediately began making connections in terms of the history of book collecting. It is amazing how they were able to draw connections between the categories and offerings and the history of book collecting.”

And on that note, it seems timely to turn to an interview I conducted with co-curator and Grolier Club Director and Librarian Eric Holzenberg, who was gracious enough to spare me some time during a busy New York holiday week to talk about the exhibit. A transcript of that interview follows. AT stands for this reviewer; EH of course stands for Eric Holzenberg.

Book Collecting at the Grolier Club: A Chat With Eric Holzenberg
AT: I want to start out with a general question: Is this a show that the Grolier Club does annually, or is this the first time such a show has been done? I’ve heard different reports on this.

EH: That’s a common misnomer. This show is not done annually. The confusion comes in because we do a small exhibition annually that is only open to members called New Members Collect. This public exhibition is the first time that we’ve done a public survey of what our members collect.

AT: What is the total membership of the Grolier Club at this point?

EH: I don’t have the exact number at my fingertips now but I believe that the membership total is about 800.

AT: Let’s talk a bit about the curation process for this show. You are the Co-Curator, with Peter Kraus. How many submissions did you receive for The Grolier Club Collects, and what sort of weeding or selection process did you go through?