The Club Bindery was founded in 1898 by Edwin Holden, and a few other wealthy members of New York’s Grolier Club, to bring the art of fine bookbinding to America and to bind their most precious books following the finest standards of European binderies. One of the more outstanding binders and finishers was Léon Maillard who studied under France’s finest, including Marius Michel. The bindery ceased its operation in 1909.
In 1906 the Grolier Club held “AN EXHIBITION OF SOME OF THE LATEST ARTISTIC BINDINGS DONE AT THE CLUB BINDERY”. Mosher was a member of the Grolier Club since December 1895, and eight of the one hundred thirty eight bindings exhibited were on Mosher imprints–more than any other American publisher represented at the exhibition. Most bindings were on very limited editions of pure Roman vellum (ten or fewer), and belonged to Henry William Poor. In fact, more than anyone else, Poor was responsible for commissioning Mosher books to be placed in Club bindings. In the auction catalogue of his library the following Mosher books were listed as having Club bindings (reference in parentheses are to the part and item number in the Poor catalogue*):
- Bridges. The Growth of Love, 1894. (Part I, No. 215)
- Wilde. The Poems of..., 1903 (III, 1004)
- Henley. In Hospital, 1903. (I, 627)
- Wilde. Intentions, 1904 (III, 1005)
- Dowson. The Poems of Ernest Dowson…, 1902 (Part II,No. 359)
- Pater. Marius the Epicurean, 1900 (I, 876)
- Wilde. Ballad of Reading Gaol, 1904 (III, 1007)
- Pater. The Renaissance, 1902 (I, 877)
- Meredith. Modern Love, 1891 (IV, 420)
- Phillips, et.al. Primavera, 1900 (I, 888)
- Stevenson. Father Damien, 1905 (IV, 726)
- Whitman. Book of Heavenly Death, 1905 (I, 1030)
- Swinburne. Songs before Sunrise, 1901 (IV, 758)
- Hay. In Praise of Omar, 1898 (II, 555)
- Swinburne. Poems & Ballads, 1902 (IV, 759)
- Rossetti. Ballads and Sonnets, 1903 (II, 890)
- Swinburne. Tristram of Lyonesse, 1904 (IV, 761)
- Thomson. City of Dreadful Night, 1892 (II, 973)
- Symonds. Fragilia Labilia, 1902 (IV, 771)
- Burton. The Kasidah, 1905 (III, 207)
- Symons. Lyrics, 1903 (IV, 774)
- Lang. Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, (III, 700)
- Villon. Ballads..., 1904 (IV, 932)
- Fitzgerald. Polonius, 1901 (III, 471)
- Rossetti. The Germ, 1898 (V, 951)
- Morris. Pilgrims of Hope, 1901 (III, 804)
- Rossetti. Poems by…, 1902 (V, 955)
- Little Garland of Christmas Verse, 1905 (III, 811)
- Swinburne. Tristram of Lyonesse, 1904 (V,1057)
- Little Garland of Celtic Verse, 1905 (III, 812)
- Swinburne. A Song of Italy, 1904 (V, 1058)
*Catalogue of the Library of Henry W. Poor. Parts I-V. New York: The Anderson Auction Company, November 1908-April 1909. The Henry Poor collection contained numerous press books and fine bindings, including a fine collection of the more limited publications of Thomas Bird Mosher. Poor owned at least forty-two Mosher books printed on vellum. One of these copies was bound by Bradstreets and twenty-three others were bound by the Club Bindery of New York, including one finished and signed by Léon Maillard. Poor owned yet another 142 Mosher books printed on Japan vellum plus thirty-nine Japan vellum copies from the Brocade Series. He also owned a set of The Bibelot (Vol. I-XIII plus the index) printed on Japan vellum.