FABS:
The First Ten Years

Several leaders from this country's oldest bibliophilic clubs were invited to speak during the festivities celebrating The Rowfant Club's centenary in 1992. Each leader told about their club's activities and goals. The activities were remarkably similar though perhaps accomplished in different ways. Quite evident was the close mutuality among all of us. We had many of the same activities, problems, and even pleasures. Why not then meet together periodically for an exchange of ideas, solutions to common problems, and the enjoyment of bibliocentric fun?

A meeting was convened in November of 1993 in New York City at The Grolier Club. Eight clubs were represented. We chose a name that was suitably convertible to a memorable acronym, FABS. A few months later at a meeting hosted by Chicago's Caxton Club, we passed a code of regulations and elected officers. The intent was to create a loose association of the various clubs from across the country. There was no concern to control any Club but merely to keep in touch with each other and maintain our common interests. A Club in Miami, Wichita, or even Ottawa ought to know there are kindred souls in Seattle, Denver, and St. Louis. To do this we needed to meet periodically, issue a newsletter, and encourage participation of the bibliophilic clubs where ever they may be.

Among the early organizers were Jerry Cole of The Book Club of California and The Roxburghe Club; Hayward Blake of Chicago's Caxton Club; Martin Antonetti and Carolyn Smith from The Grolier Club in New York; the late George Allen, Thomas Whitehead, and Bruce McKittrick from Philadelphia's Philobiblons; John Crichton and Sandor Burstein from The Roxburghe Club in San Francisco; Sam Gatteno of The Book Club of Detroit; Francis Weber from Southern California's Zamarono Club; Eliot Stanley from The Baxter Club; Arthur Cheslock from The Baltimore Bibliophiles; and from The Rowfant Club of Cleveland were Robert H. Jackson, John F. McClatchey, and Lawrence N. Siegler. Within a few years, more help came from St. Louis' Kay Kramer; George Chapman Singer and Eric Holzenberg of The Grolier Club; Boston's Pricilla Juvelis; Delaware's Gordon Pfeiffer; and Denver's Carol Grossman.

FABS has organized annual gatherings at six different locations. Each event has become more and more glorious and heavily oversubscribed. So far we have marveled at the treasures found in Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco, Cleveland, Chicago, and most recently, Pasadena/Los Angeles.

On these trips we visit prominent rare book collections both public and private. The local Club provides perceptive and honest insights into their own historic, intellectual, and cultural fabric. But most importantly, we get to know each other better while enjoying access to things and places rarely accessible to most people.

We also provide a symposium at these annual gatherings with invited dealers, librarians, notable collectors, and other experts in the book world. Created and organized by the prominent collector, Robert H. Jackson, this symposium is always a very popular event.

Another impressive achievement of the last ten years is our Newsletter. It is intended to contain items of general bibliocentric interest and also provide a site at which the various clubs can announce their programs, publications and other activities. My initial issue contained two greatly flawed xerographic pages. It now is beautifully published twice a year by Kay Kramer and has 32 pages. Kramer also maintains the FABS Web site.

Progress in this first decade has been more opulent than any of the organizers thought possible. Nobody expected that there would be 27 associated clubs. Under the vigorous leadership of our president John Carson and his fellow officers and with the concerned help of all the FABS' representatives, the next ten years seem propitious indeed.

Lawrence N. Siegler
Chair Emeritus