On Saturday, the sun came out for the first time in weeks. Because it was still just a bit too cold for the bike, I jumped on the subway, eager for a proper spinster-y adventure.
My original plan was to venture all the way down to Fong On in the LES to try their exquisite-sounding tofu pudding, but I started to feel kind of stressed out on the train for some reason. I got off early and decided to keep my outing confined to the UES instead. Luckily, there was lots to see.
I headed to the Grolier Club first. It’s a New York society club dedicated to the love of books—yes, really!
As their website states, “The Grolier Club’s purpose is to foster the study, collecting, appreciation, and celebration of books, works on paper, and their related arts and crafts, particularly their art, history, production, circulation, and commerce.”
Admission to their two galleries is free to the public. Their ground-floor exhibition (just days away from closing) was collection of bookbindings from the 15th-21st centuries.
The book on the far right reads “One Hundred Books Famous in Typography,” and it was made by Jerry Kelly in 2021.
According to the exhibition catalogue, the insect embroidered on the cover is a bark beetle that bears the Latin name Ips typographus. They make creepy centipede-looking markings inside trees.
The top floor exhibition showcased notable works of detective fiction from one of the Club members’ personal collections.
After that, I walked uptown to check out the New York Society Library. They also have a gallery that’s free and open to the public and a reading room which was quite grand.
It was unclear if I was allowed to go into this reading room, but I did. I sat in a plush armchair next to a romantically large and drafty window and finished my current chapter of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking.
Then, I walked even further north to the French Embassy, which is right across from The Met (I did debate whether or not to go to The Met this day, but I’m glad I didn’t). I was there to check out the little French bookstore inside called Albertine.
This bookstore is famed on the internet for one of its rooms having this very beautiful starry ceiling. And like most things you find on the internet then see in real life, it was kind of a “huh, cool,” moment, and then that’s it. I probably won’t be back, but I did enjoy hearing all the French speakers. Makes me want to go back to Montreal.
Then, onto the Cooper-Hewitt, just in time for their pay-as-you-wish hour to begin at 5 p.m. I admit that by this point, I was a quite fried and not able to take in much new information. I didn’t spend much time communing with the works of Dorothy Liebes, sadly.
After this, I waited an absurdly long time for the N train (I was having some really wonky train experiences this day), then ordered Taverna Kyclades for takeout en route home and enjoyed it back at my kitchen table.
It’s totally possible to have a full day of culture out in the city that doesn’t cost very much money. This has been the game I’ve been playing lately.