Person, Place, Thing with Randy Cohen: Janine Barchas & Mary Crawford

Join us for a live recording of Person, Place, Thing with Randy Cohen featuring curators of Paper Jane: 250 Years of Austen, Mary Crawford & Janine Barchas.  

https://personplacething.org/

About Randy Cohen:

Randy Cohen’s first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines (The New Yorker, Harpers, the Atlantic, Young Love Comics). His first television work was writing for "Late Night With David Letterman" for which he won three Emmy awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on Michael Moore’s "TV Nation." He received a fifth Emmy as a result of a clerical error, and he kept it. For twelve years he wrote "The Ethicist," a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine. He is currently the creator and host of Person Place Thing, a public radio program.

About the Exhibition

On view December 4 - February 14 at the Grolier Club

Paper Jane marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen (1775–1817). Now arguably the best-known author in the English language after Shakespeare, that was not always the case—when she died at the early age of 41, Austen was relatively unknown, having published only four novels anonymously (“by a Lady”). The exhibition is organized chronologically, measuring the novelist’s growing fame at fifty-year intervals (1825, 1875, 1925, 1975, and 2025) through a kaleidoscopic mix of 110 objects, including rare first editions, manuscripts, popular reprintings, movie posters, illustrations, theater playbills, and other paper ephemera, all drawn from the collections of Sandra Clark, Mary Crawford, and Janine Barchas. In addition to showcasing rare first and early editions of Austen’s novels, the exhibition explores the profound influence of the Austen family on the writer’s legacy. An accompanying catalogue, published by the Grolier Club, will be available in December 2025. 

Registration

If you are a Grolier Club member, please register yourself and your guests via the Club website. Do not register via Eventbrite.

Support

We appreciate your interest in the Grolier Club’s programming on the art and history of the book. For over 130 years we have offered our exhibitions and lectures to the public, free of charge. If you have enjoyed these offerings, and would like to support that tradition, and help ensure that it continues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Grolier Club.

Accessibility

An ADA-compliant lift from street level to the lobby is available to anyone with mobility issues. All desk staff should be ready and able to assist you in operating the lift, with or without advance notice.

A “T-Coil” assisted listening system is available to anyone attending a lecture in the Exhibition Hall. Visitors with hearing aids should turn their devices to the “T” setting in order to access the system; visitors without hearing aids may request a “loop receiver” with earphones.

Host or Publisher The Grolier Club