In no other country did club-life attain such an early perfection as in England. The earliest clubs on the European continent were of a political nature. These in 1848 were repressed in Austria and Germany, and the modern clubs of Berlin and Vienna are mere replicas of their English prototypes. In France, where the term _cercle_ is most usual, the first was Le Club Politique (1782), and during the Revolution such associations proved important political forces (see JACOBINS, FEUILLANTS, CORDELIERS). Of the modern purely social clubs in Paris the most notable are The Jockey Club (1833) and the Cercle de la Rue Royale.
In the United States clubs were first established after the War of Independence. One of the first in date was the Hoboken Turtle Club (1797), which still survives. Of the modern clubs in New York the Union (1836) is the earliest, and other important ones are the Century (1847), Union League (1863), University (1865), Knickerbocker (1871), Lotus (1870), Manhattan (1865), and Metropolitan (1891). But club-life in American cities has grown to enormous proportions; the number of excellent clubs is now legion, and their hospitality has become proverbial. The chief clubs in each city are referred to in the topographical articles.
Walter Arnold, _Life and Death of the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks_ (1871); John Aubrey, _Letters of Eminent Persons_ (2 vols.); C. Marsh, _Clubs of London, with Anecdotes of their Members, Sketches of Character and Conversation_ (2 vols., 1832); _Notes and Queries_, 3rd series, vols. 1, 9, 10; W. H. Pyne, _Wine and Walnuts_ (2 vols., 1823); Admiral Smyth, _Sketch of the Use and Progress of the Royal Society Club_ (1860); John Timbs, _Club Life of London, with Anecdotes of Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns_ (2 vols., 1866), and _History of Clubs and Club Life_ (1872); Th. Walker, _The Original_, fifth edition, by W. A. Guy (1875); _The Secret History of Clubs of all Descriptions_ by Ned Ward (1709); _Complete and Humourous Account of all the Remarkable Clubs and Societies in the Cities of London and Westminster_, by Ned Ward (7th edition, 1756); _The London Clubs; their Anecdotes, History, Private Rules and Regulations_ (12mo, 1853); Rev. A. Hume, _Learned Societies and Printing Clubs_ (1847); J. Strang, _Glasgow and its Clubs_ (1857); A. F. Leach, _Club Cases_ (1879); Col. G. J. Ivey, _Clubs of the World_ (1880); J. Wertheimer, _Law relating to Clubs_ (1885); L. Fagan, _The Reform Club_ (1887); F. G. Waugh, _Members of the Athenaeum Club_ (privately printed 1888).