The club was founded on January 29, 1887, with the following intention:
The objects shall be to promote an interest in, and a love for whatever will tend to make literature attractive as given in the form of printed and illustrated volumes, to mutually assist in making researches and collections of first and rare editions, and to promote elegance in the production of Odd Volumes.
The term odd is an eighteenth-century usage meaning varied or unmatched. In the club’s name it is a reference to book collecting, where an odd volume is a unique book, often the lone volume remaining from a larger set. The Sette of Odd Volumes, an English bibliophile dining-club founded in 1878, was the inspiration for the organization. George Clulow, President of the Sette of Odd Volumes, London, suggested the name The Club of Odd Volumes, as it has remained since. The club began primarily as a dinner club, complementing established social clubs like the Somerset Club, Algonquin Club, Union Club, and Harvard Club. The group conducts lectures, meets monthly for dinner and for weekly Saturday lunch, collects and publishes books, and develops literary exhibits. The club hosts authors, book designers, artists, politicians, printers, and people prominent in creative fields. In January 1921 Harry Houdini gave a talk on Books on Magic and the Theater. Winston Churchill was a guest at the Club, at a private luncheon, April 1949.
Building
The club has been at 77 Mt. Vernon Street in Beacon Hill since it purchased the building 1936. The building was the home of Sarah Wyman Whitman. Prior to 1936, it rented the buildings across the street at 50, 52 and 54 Mt. Vernon Street.
Library and publications
Between its founding and 1900, the club expanded its membership and activities to include an active exhibition and publishing program as well as the maintenance of a library. Members in the Club of Odd Volumes, currently limited to a maximum of 87, are often associated with Boston's universities, museums and libraries. They often include rare and antiquarian book collectors, curators, scholars, printers and typophiles. The club continues to offer exhibitions on a wide variety of themes, including the printing arts, typography and antiquarian books. The club has a substantial library of antiquarian books and an archive of letterpress printing. The collection, only accessible by club members, has about 2,200 titles.
Publications
;Published about themselves
;Works of authors and poets The following is a short selection of published works:
