A Club for Bibliophiles

  • Founded in 1893, the Philobiblon Club is Philadelphia’s club for bibliophiles—collectors, librarians, booksellers, binders, printers, illustrators, and anyone else who loves books.

    To learn more about the legacy of the Philobiblon Club of Philadelphia, visit the History page.

  • September 8, 2026: Pre-Season Event: Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts Tour

    October 13, 2026: Stacey Peeples (Pennsylvania Hospital Museum), “The New Medical Museum at Pennsylvania Hospital, Including the Historic Library and Surgical Theater.”

    November 10, 2026: Jordan Smith (Widener University), “The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity”

    December 8, 2026: Members’ Show and Tell

    January 12, 2027: Cellia Caust-Ellenbogen (Swarthmore College), Jack McCarthy (Project Director, Poquessing Trail of History), John Pollack (University of Pennsylvania), “What Was Purvis Reading? The Books of A Great Abolitionist” from the Byberry Library Company at Byberry Friends Meeting

    February 9, 2027: Christian Lehmann (Bard High School Early College), “Dickens and the Classics”

    March 9, 2027: Christine Neulieb and Feliza Casano (Lanternfish Press), “Publishing the Rare and Strange: A Conversation with Lanternfish Press”

    April 13, 2027: Alexander Ames (Rosenbach Museum & Library), “Starstruck: Mercedes de Acosta, William H. McCarthy, Jr., and the Making of the Rosenbach's Once-Secret Archive of Queer Hollywood's Golden Age”

    May 11, 2027: David Gary (American Philosophical Society), “The Material Foundation of a Federalist Statesman: Rufus King's Library and the Intellectual World of the Early American Republic”

    To participate or learn more about the season’s programs, visit Meetings.

  • The Philobiblon Club of Philadelphia is affiliated with FABS, the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. The club meets monthly during the academic year at the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

    Membership is open to anyone interested in books. You are invited to attend a meeting before you join to see whether the Philobiblon Club is right for you. For more information or to RSVP to attend a meeting, send us a note at philobiblonclub1893 at gmail dot com.