Book-club

Book-club is either (1) an association for purchasing and reading new books as they issue from the press, or (2) an association for the printing of books relating to some special branch of inquiry. The importance of the former kind of book-club has greatly diminished in Britain since the general establishment of circulating libraries after the style of Mudie's in London. The present article deals with the printing book-club only. The oldest is the Cymmrodorion or Metropolitan Cambrian Institution, founded in 1751, and reconstituted in 1820, and again in 1877. The still earlier Dilettanti Society (1734) is also a kind of book-club, its magnum opus the Antiquities of Ionia (4 parts, 1769–1882). But the practical prototype of the true book-club was the Roxburghe, instituted (17th June 1813) in commemoration of the sale of the Duke of Roxburghe's library, and more especially in honour of the Valdarfer Bocceaccio. At first the club was largely convivial, its dinners costing sometimes £5 or £6 a head; though it was understood that each member was to be at the cost of reprinting as many copies of some scarce work as there were members in the association—the chairman's copy to be on vellum. The first issues were quite trivial; and the solid work of the club began only with Sir Frederick Madden's Romance of Havelok the Dane in 1828. It was the Bannatyne Club (q.v.), founded by Sir Walter Scott in 1823, which began the regular issue of really substantial productions. The Camden Society introduced the method, now universal, of taking an annual sub- scription from each member, instead of leaving the whole expense of a book to be defrayed by one individual; and thus, among other advantages, secured a more equal standard of excellence. Omitting learned societies which publish only Proceedings and Transactions, the following is a brief list of the more important book-clubs and book-printing societies of Great Britain: Maitland Club (Glasgow, 1828–59), after Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, works illustrative of Scottish history, antiquities, and literature; Oriental Translation Fund (1828–58); Iona Club (Edinburgh, 1833–38), history, antiquities, and early literature of Scottish Highlands and Islands; Surtees Society (Durham, 1834), after Robert Surtees of Mainsforth, manuscripts dealing with the Northumbrian region; Abbotsford Club (Edinburgh, 1834–37), history, literature, and antiquities, English and Scottish; Camden Soc. (Lond. 1838), civil, ecclesiastical, and literary history of the United Kingdom; Spalding Club (Aberdeen, 1839–70; revived 1887), after the local historian, literature of north-eastern counties of Scotland; Parker Soc. (Lond. 1840–55), after Archbishop Parker, the fathers and early writers of the Reformed English Church; Percy Soc. (Lond. 1840–52), after Thomas Percy, ballad poetry; Shakespeare Soc. (Lond. 1840–53); Soc. for the Publication of Oriental Texts (Lond. 1841–50); Ælfic Soc. (Lond. 1842–56), Anglo-Saxon works; Chetham Soc. (Manchester, 1843), after Humphrey Chetham, works connected with Counties Palatine of Lancaster and Chester; Sydenham Soc. (Lond. 1843), medical literature; Spottiswoode Soc. (Edin. 1843–51), authors of the Episcopal Church of Scotland; Ray Soc. (Lond. 1844), natural history; Wernerian Club (Lond. 1844), scientific works; Cavendish Soc. (Lond. 1846), chemical science; Hakluyt Soc. (Lond. 1846), geography and travel; Arundel Soc. (Lond. 1848), important works of old masters; Early English Text Soc. (1864); Spenser Soc. (1867–68); Holbein Soc. (Lond. 1868), illustrated works; Ballard Soc. (Lond. 1868); Chaucer Soc. (1868); Harleian Soc. (1869), historical; English Dialect Soc. (1873); New Shakespeare Soc. (1873); Folklore Soc. (Lond. 1877); Index Soc. (1878); Wyclif (1882); Palæographical and Pipe Roll Soc. (1883); Palestine Pilgrims Text Soc. (1884); Scottish Text Soc. (Edin. 1883); Scottish History Soc. (Edin. 1886). Among the many similar societies in the United States, the oldest is the Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, 1792). See Burton, Book Hunter; Martin, Bibliogr. Cat. of Books privately printed (1834); Hunie & Evans, Learned Societies and Printing Clubs of the United Kingdom; English Catalogue (Appendixes); Bohn, Appendix to Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual (1864); Yearbook of Learned and Scientific Societies (1885; new ed. 1888).