A Lovely Party...But Where Was Mr. Knickerbocker?

The old Dutchman Diedrich Knickerbocker, with his black coat and cocked hat, was a no show last night at Betsy Bradley's book party, even though he was more or less the guest of honor. Perhaps he did not know how to find his way to Anthony and Margo Viscusi's apartment on the Upper West Side, which is so far afield from his Lower Manhattan comfort zone. Or he may have been at one of his eponymous haunts -- the Knickerbocker Club, Knickerbocker Grill, or Knickerbocker Avenue -- completely absorbed (as we found ourselves later in the evening) reading Ms. Bradley's just-published book, "Knickerbocker: The Myth Behind New York."

In the book, Ms. Bradley, the deputy director at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, describes the origin and evolution of the Knickerbocker "original" New York in lively, thoughtful, and meticulously researched prose, from its beginnings -- Knickerbocker first came to life as the satirical narrator of Washington Irving's break-out hit of 1809, "History of New York" -- to its use and disparate meanings over the next 200 years, in advertisements, literature, dictionaries, cartoons, and even a basketball team name.

At the party, organized by the New York Council for the Humanities, Ms. Bradley reminded us that the elusive Mr. Knickerbocker began his public life "missing": Nearly 200 years ago, the city papers ran notices of Knickerbocker's disappearance, including one by a hotel owner who announced he would sell the "very curious kind of written book" his guest had left behind, to pay the delinquent's bill. These notices, it turned out, were fictional: a clever publicity stunt for Irving's "History of New York."

This background of course suggests the perfect ad campaign to launch Ms. Bradley's book: A series of "Knickerbocker Found" ads. It wouldn't even need to be fictitious: having wrestled with such a manipulated character and symbol, reflecting the continuous New York struggle to belong here, Ms. Bradley finds the Knickerbocker in all of us. "I really think every New Yorker can be their own Knickerbocker without any need for a Dutch ancestry," the Mammaroneck native who now lives in Brooklyn said to guests.

And so, the Knickerbockers spotted at the party: Ms. Bradley's fiance, Eric Lai, a research biologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; the executive director of the New York Council for the Humanities, Sara Ogger; the president of the New York Public Library, Paul LeClerc; the director of the research libraries at the New York Public Library, David Ferriero; the director of the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, Jean Strouse; the general manager of New York City Opera, George Steel and his wife, Sarah Fels; Joanna and Daniel Rose; cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey; the founder of the Aston Magna music festival in the Berkshires, Lee Elman; the chairwoman of the Hudson-Fulton-Camplain Quadricentennial Commission, Joan Davidson, and author Caitlin Macy.

Eric Lai and Betsy Bradley with Paul LeClerc

The author and George Steel have a signing powow...

... and laugh.

Joan Davidson and Anthony Viscusi

Joanna Rose, board member, and Sara Ogger, executive director, of the New York Council for the Humanities

Elbrun Kimmelman talks to Madhur Jaffrey; both are board members of the New York Council for the Humanities.

Chase Bodine, a CBS News "The Early Show" producer, and Caitlin Macy, author of "Spoiled." Both are in a children's literature book group with Ms. Bradley.

The council asked guests to talk on camera about the humanities, for a short video to appear on its Web site. Here Mr. Viscusi is filmed in his library.