Club
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Club. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an association formed usually for some social, literary, or political purpose. It is quite probable that there were clubs in Rome. Something of the sort appears to have been known among the officers of Roman garrisons stationed at a distance from the home city. London may be regarded, however, as the original home of the club. In its earliest form, the club existed in connection with some coffeehouse or tavern. Meetings were held usually in a large room of the establishment. Refreshments were served. Such organizations simply gathered around a dining table, at which the members presented themselves at a given hour, combining the taking of a regular meal with social intercourse. In most clubs, it is understood that members are admitted by a ballot. A rejected candidate is said to have been "blackballed." Some clubs admit no visitors. The members of other clubs are permitted to invite guests. One of the earliest clubs of any note was formed in the seventeenth century at the Mermaid Tavern. Shakespeare, Beaumont, Fletcher, Sir Walter Raleigh, Donne, and Selden were members. The Kit-Cat Club of Queen Anne's reign was a Whig club. Its membership included Steele, Addison, Congreve, Robert Walpole, and many of the nobility, including the Duke of Marlborough. A rival Tory organization was known as the Beefsteak Club. The history of London clubs includes many curious names, such as the Unfortunate Club; the Lying Club, whose members were required to refrain from speaking the truth unless the president gave express permission; the Ugly Club; the Surly Club; and the Split-farthing Club. The Literary Club, to which Dr. Samuel Johnson belonged, enrolled Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, and Edward Gibbon. It is still in existence. As expressive of the qualities desirable in a member, Dr. Johnson coined the expression a "clubbable man." There are now in London several scores of clubs with a total membership, possibly, of 100,000. One of the most noted is the Carleton Club, established by the Duke of Wellington. It occupies a palatial building, and is considered the headquarters of the Conservative party. It has about 1,600 members. The Reform Club, a corresponding, and is considered the headquarters of nucleus of the Liberal party. Other London clubs are the Athenaeum, the Travelers, the Army and Navy, etc. There are two or three hundred clubs in the United States . The most noted, possibly, is the Union League Club of New York . The alumni of the larger universities have established numerous clubs. A Yale club, a Harvard club, a Princeton club, etc., may be found in almost any large city. New York, however, is the club center of the United States. The Yacht Club has over 1,000 members; the Army and Navy, 1,200. The Knickerbocker Club and the Authors' Club are of a literary nature. The Press Club is composed of newspaper men. The Grolier Club encourages reprints in fine binding of rare old books. The University Club of Chicago is a notable organization, and occupies a striking building finished handsomely in oak. Nearly every city of importance in the Union has a commercial club, with a membership representing nearly every line of mental activity. Such clubs usually have commodious quarters, with conveniences for dining, and for playing games, a reading room, an assembly room, etc. Matters of importance to the city at large are taken up and discussed. Many civic reforms and enterprises are due to the various clubs of this nature. On the presentation of the regulation card, most commercial clubs extend the freedom of their quarters to the members of corresponding organizations in other cities.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an association or number of persons combined for the promotion of some common object, whether political, social, or otherwise. The earliest London Club of any celebrity was established about the beginning of the 17th century, at the Mermaid Tavern, Friday by street . Among its members were Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Beaumont, Fletcher, and Selden. Ben Jonson figured at another club, which met at the Devil Tavern, near Temple Bar. Of other Clubs, the literary one, established in the year 1764, had among its members Johnson, Boswell, Burke, and Goldsmith . Toward the close of the 18th century, the French political Clubs gained worldwide notoriety from the active part which they took in the first French revolution. The most celebrated was the Jacobin again in 1849 and Club, founded at Versailles in 1789, and called originally the Breton Club. This and other political French Clubs were abolished on Sept. 4, 1797. They were revived in 1848, but were suppressed Well-appointed Clubs for men, in the English style have been established in all the leading cities of the United States, and within recent years Clubs exclusively for women have become numerous and popular.