Oak Knoll

This book contains thirty essays, about two hundred color photographs, and two poems, all by the travelers on the Grolier Club's Iter Gallico-Helveticum, a seven-day journey through France and Switzerland in 2012. This "Iter" was the latest in a long line of European excursions by the Grolier Club, the first of which occurred as part of the Club's 75th anniversary celebrations in 1959.

The essays are organized to follow and celebrate the itinerary of the Iter. The first section covers four days in Paris, with essays on the bibliothèques and bibliophiles that were visited. The second section summarizes a sojourn among the cultural treasures of Alsace-architectural, ecclesiastical, and bookish-and following that, a journey to Geneva, Switzerland, to admire the collections of two extraordinary bibliophiles.

The third section is devoted to the special pleasures of the trip as remembered by individual travelers, including notes on food, friendship, and particular sites visited. A list of travelers, the complete itinerary of libraries and private collections, and the names of the Club's gracious hosts during this bibliophilic tour are included in the appendices.

Eleanore Ramsey adapted the cover design from a Grolier binding seen on the trip, on display at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.