Our thoughts may fittingly turn at this time to the formation of a Book Club of Washington [finely printed invitation]

Seattle: Frank McCaffrey / Dogwood Press, 1929. One of thirty five copies. 30x44cm, printed on both sides of a single leaf, folded across the grain, of "British Handmade" paper by Joseph Batchelor & Sons, Ford Mill, Kent. Printed in "blackletter text" font, with an "O" initial designed and hand illuminated by McCaffrey, gilt ruling, and St.Christopher woodcut print from the 1417 Laus Virginia manuscript at the Rylands Library. Slightly dusty along top edge, few smudges and pin-sized blemishes, perhaps from the printing process, else clean and nearly fine.

A defining piece of Northwest fine printing and bibliophilia (and with an interesting back story), being an original invitation to the Book Club of Washington in Seattle, 1929.  Jodee Fenton notes in her excellent article from The Journal of the Book Club of Washington, Fall, 2013, businessman, Nathan Eckstein and young Seattle printer, Frank McCaffrey decided to host a dinner meeting discussing the possibility of forming a club of bibliophiles not unlike the Book Club of California, Zamorano Club, and other such groups.  McCaffrey had just purchased his first press and opened business as Acme Press.  This invitation, however, represents one of if not the first piece printed under his Dogwood Press name, for which he would become well known in the following decades. 


This particular invitation was sent to Mrs. Florence Armstrong Grondal (1889-1977) of Seattle,  astronomer, photographer, and author of The Music of the Spheres: A Nature Lover's Astronomy (1926).  As Fenton states, regarding the inclusion of women (one other woman was invited):

"Women were generally not admitted to book clubs in the early part of the twentieth century and this departure from standard practice is notable."

Interestingly, the invitations were never sent, the meeting never occurred, and the Book Club of Washington did not form until 1982.  There is speculation as to the reason: Eckstein's fear of leaving someone important out; prominent UW professor and invitee, Edmund Meany's bad car accident delaying the event; the stock market crash of 1929.  Whatever the case, McCaffrey held on to the invitations until his death in 1985.  

The beauty and bibliophilic lore contained in this example of McCaffrey's printing cannot be overstated.  A truly remarkable piece of Seattle art printing.  .