Wise Men Fished Here

A Centennial Exhibition in Honor of the Gotham Book Mart, 1920 - 2020. 

In 2008, the University of Pennsylvania was gifted the contents of the Gotham Book Mart, the legendary New York City bookstore founded by Frances Steloff in 1920. To mark the 100th anniversary of the store’s founding, the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts will host an exhibition in honor of Frances Steloff and her famous bookshop. For decades the Gotham Book Mart was, as Steloff prosaically put it, “the headquarters of the avant-garde.” The exhibition will explore the shop’s role in assembling, publishing, and promoting groundbreaking experimental writers, as well as its later years under the ownership of Steloff's hand- chosen successor, Andreas Brown, focusing on Brown’'s passion for postcards and collaborations with graphic artist, Edward Gorey . 

For the past eight years, Penn Libraries curators and staff have unpacked and processed over 200,000 items and unveiled one hundred and fifty linear feet of archival materials. From this mass of "stuff", Curator David McKnight has, with the assistance of Katherine Aid and Camille Davis, selected 300 pieces ranging in date from 1900 to 2000. Drawing upon the collection’s vast array of material evidence—books, periodicals, manuscripts and ephemera -—the exhibition will narrate the history of the shop from its earliest beginnings to its to its demise in 2005. A catalog of the exhibition is in preparation. 


CONFERENCE: February 28 – March 1, 2019 
LOCATION: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books & Manuscripts, Class of 1978 Pavilion 

The 2018 Jay Kislak Conference: 
A two- day and half day conference on the theme of Modernism - Materiality - Meaning. Responding to the growing interest in the concept of the modernist book store, the conference will provide a framework to explore the role of the Gotham Book Mart within the larger context of the printing arts, non-commercial publishing, retailing, and the marketing of modernism; as well as, examining the important role of little magazines and small presses; other topics will include Surrealism; the New York poetry scene; the Beats; Edward Gorey, and much more. The conference will be preceded by a film festival inspired by the Gotham Book Mart promotion of Modernist film. Other events will include a poetry reading, panels and workshops. 

Gallery Hours: 
Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm 
Wed 9am - 8pm 

Free & open to the public 

Goldstein Family & Kamin Galleries 
Van Pelt - Dietrich Library Center 
3420 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA