The Grolier Club in New York City presents an exhibition exploring America’s presidents as bibliophiles, readers, and writers. On view from September 7 through November 11, 2023 in the Grolier Club’s second floor gallery, Presidents and Their Books: What They Read and What They Wrote features books from all 45 men who have held the office of President of the United States of America, from George Washington through Joseph R. Biden.
Co-curated by Grolier Club member Susan Jaffe Tane and her teenage grandchildren Natalie Flaxman and Spencer Flaxman - the youngest-ever curators at the Grolier Club - the exhibition is drawn from Tane’s collection. “Book collecting always represents a connection between the past, present, and future, and this collection illuminates both our nation’s shared history and the personal history of a family of collectors,” said Tane.
Spanning U.S. history with approximately 50 books from the personal libraries of presidents or books signed and inscribed by them, the exhibition includes:
- a copy of John Adams’ political philosophy papers inscribed to his cousin
- a presentation copy of Abraham Lincoln’s Political Debates
- a copy of Gentle Julia, gifted to a nine-year-old George H. W. Bush by author Booth Tarkington
On view in Presidents and Their Books are volumes read and kept by presidents in their personal libraries, such as George Washington’s copy of James Rennell’s Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan; or the Mogul Empire (London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for the Author, 1793), which Washington signed on the title page. Thomas Jefferson’s annotated copy of Homer’s Iliad, a Renaissance-era printing in Greek, was part of his library at Monticello. Franklin Delano Roosevelt kept a 19th-century red-bound gift book he inherited from his grandmother in his library at Hyde Park. The Gift: A Christmas and New Year’s Present for 1836 (Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1835) contains Edgar Allan Poe’s story Ms. Found in a Bottle.
Presidents’ personal interests are often revealed through their libraries. Millard Fillmore’s copy of Indian Antiquities, or, Dissertations, Relative to the Ancient Geographical Divisions... Vol. IV. In Which the Hebrew Trinity and the Oriental Triads of Deity Are Extensively Investigated (London: Printed, for the Author, by H.L. Galabin, 1800) explores iconography and ideology in ancient Egypt and the Near East that likely relates to Fillmore’s anti-Masonic theories. Also on view is Theodore Roosevelt’s personal copy of his book Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905), signed and with his bookplate, in which he recounts his two-week exploration of Yellowstone.
Many books on view feature inscriptions that share personal and political relationships. Harry S. Truman gifted Eleanor Roosevelt a copy of Truman Speaks (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), a collection of his lectures at Columbia University, inscribing it to the “First Lady of the World.” Nixon inscribed The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978) to the Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza Shah Pahlavi, “with deep appreciation for his friendship and for his strong, courageous leadership in the cause of peace, progress and justice for his own people and others throughout the world.” Nixon gifted the book to the Shah one year before the Iranian Revolution sent him into exile.
A posthumous gift is on view from John F. Kennedy, who planned to give a copy of the Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States of America from George Washington 1789 to John F. Kennedy 1961 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1961) to Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Jacqueline Kennedy inscribed the book on his behalf and gave it to Rusk a few weeks after her husband’s death.
The accompanying 96-page catalog, Presidents and Their Books: What They Read and What They Wrote, by Natalie Flaxman and Spencer Flaxman with Susan Jaffe Tane, is published by the Grolier Club.
The Grolier Club will host related free public programs, including lunchtime exhibition tours on September 9, September 13, and October 11, all at 1pm. More details here.
