The Book Club of California selected Alessandro Meregaglia, associate professor and archivist/librarian, to deliver the 2024 Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Lecture on the History of the Book Trade in California and the West.
Meregaglia gave two in-person lectures last month, one in San Francisco and one in Pasadena, on “Caxton Printers of Idaho: A Century of Publishing in the American West.” Caxton Printers was founded by James H. Gipson as a small print shop in Caldwell, Idaho, over a century ago. During the following decades, Caxton grew to publish hundreds of books across all genres–primarily about the American West. Gipson’s philosophy was to help writers from the West get published, regardless of the commercial success of their books. This research forms the basis for Meregaglia’s primary research project.
Founded in 1912, the Book Club of California seeks to preserve and promote the history of the book and the book arts, often focusing on literature and the history of California and the West.