This isn’t ebook related, but it looks like a fascinating evening for any book lover, e or p, in the NY area. From the press release:
Peter Booth Wiley, Chairman of the Board of Directors of John Wiley & Sons, Inc, will provide a look at the early American publishing business in a lecture being presented in conjunction with the exhibit John Wiley & Sons: 200 Years of Publishing at the Grolier Club (www.grolierclub.org), the oldest and largest bibliophile club in North America. The exhibit, which is on display through November 20 and includes 236 rare and first Wiley editions, traces the development of the publishing industry, the growth of the United States, the evolution of modern science, and the emergence of a global community.
On Thursday, November 18, at 6 p.m., Mr. Wiley will discuss the company’s role in the formative years of American literature from 1807 – 1848.
The company’s founder, Charles Wiley, hosted early American authors James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant, and others at his Wall Street location called the “Den.” First editions by these authors and Washington Irving are included as well as the first magazine printing of The Star-Spangled Banner under its original title, Defence of Fort M’Henry (1814). In partnership with George Putnam, and on his own, Charles’ son John published the next generation of landmark nineteenth century American authors. Examples on exhibition include first editions of both versions of Herman Melville’s Typee (1846 and 1848), Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales and The Raven and Other Poems (1845) as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). …
Like the exhibition itself, this event is free and open to the public.
John Wiley & Sons: 200 Years of Publishing is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with an introduction by Mr. Wiley. An online version of the exhibit and catalogue can be accessed at www.wiley.com.
