282nd Annual Dinner

On Tuesday, November 19, the Library Company will hold its 282nd Annual Dinner. The event includes a reception at the Wells Fargo History Museum, dinner at the Union League, and a presentation by Michael F. Suarez, S.J., one of the rare book world’s most engaging ambassadors.

Director of Rare Book School and Honorary Curator of Special Collections at the University of Virginia, Professor Suarez is a formidable force in literary, book, and library studies. He is former president and long-time board member of the Northeast American Society for 18th-Century Studies is the co-editor of The Oxford Companion to the Book and The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, Volume 5, 1695-1830. He has written many articles on various aspects of 18th-century literature, satirical prints, religion, politics, and book history, and won several awards for his poetry, as well as his bibliography and literary criticism.

He holds four master’s degrees (two in English and two in Theology) and a doctorate in English literature from the University of Oxford. Professor Suarez is a former Marshall Scholar and recipient of research fellowships from the Radcliff Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Studies, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. A dynamic and demanding teacher and a passionate and enthusiastic lecturer, Professor Suarez is one of the most articulate advocates of the importance of books and rare book research libraries in the digital age. As Editor in Chief of Oxford Scholarly Editions Online, he is able to put into practice his belief in the essential utility of digital resources—but their ultimate insufficiency for the study of the history of the book.

This year’s event is especially meaningful because it will be John Van Horne’s last Annual Dinner as Director of the Library Company. You can purchase tickets for this event and find information about being an event sponsor by visiting the Annual Dinner event page on our website.