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Our long-time readers and patrons, students and faculty in the printing and graphic design programs, as well as members of the graphic arts industry, benefit from efficient access to the Collection's holdings. Also, for the present-day graphic arts professional, it is essential to promote the value of studying the histories of what many might argue are among civilization's most stupendous and evolving achievements: the arts and techniques of recording, accessing and preserving information. The Cary Collection does just that.
Although one may also browse or search the online catalog of the collection, here we present the physical facility that houses the real works.
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Our beautiful, glass showcases were designed and installed by the Baltimore firm of Helmut Guenschel, Inc. They are spacious, possess excellent environmental controls, and provide a great variety of options for assembling creative exhibitions.
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Certain features of the library are worth pointing out. In addition to its vaulted main reading room, the Cary Collection includes the Dudley A. Weiss Reading Room, which houses the Middleton Collection of Books on Bookbinding, while the Arthur M. Lowenthal Memorial Room houses historic letterpress equipment and a type composition workshop.
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Gracing one end of the main reading room is a calligraphic alphabet window by the celebrated lettering artist Julian Waters, interpreted in multi-colored glass by the Valerie Murray Stained Glass Studio.
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Another alphabet, Roman capitals engraved in slate by Father Edward Catich, was presented to the Cary Collection by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust to commemorate the opening of its present home.
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Paintings from Kimberly-Clark’s Graphic Communications through the Ages series are displayed in the main reading room. Each work visually narrates milestones in the graphic arts from the early history of bookmaking up to the twentieth century.
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The Lowenthal Memorial Room is a visual delight for historians of printing technology. It was given by Arthur E. Lowenthal in memory of his father Arthur M. Lowenthal, a patron and collector of fine printing. Here are displayed (and used) some of the most famous of nineteenth-century iron handpresses, along with the accoutrements necessary to printing. This book arts-oriented room in the collection makes it possible for printing historians to conduct practical research on various aspects of letterpress printing, elevating Cary to a unique position among American printing history libraries. Only the St. Bride Printing Library in London so closely integrates printed and technical resources for the student and scholar.
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A beautifully restored Columbian handpress from 1876, endowed with fantastic ornamentation, stands to the left as one enters the Lowenthal Room while to the right is an elegantly simple, almost delicate-looking Taylor Washington press from the 1850s. Representing some of the proudest technical achievements of the nineteenth century, these rare handpresses are prized today by museums and private printers.
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The collection also features a Model 3 Job Press from the J.W. Daughaday & Co. This make of clamshell platen press was manufactured in Philadelphia from 1877 to1885 and was a staple of small-town printshops for producing business cards, stationary and miscellaneous jobbing printing.
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A recent acquisition to the iron handpress collection is this Improved Albion press made by Salisbury in London. It was acquired by John Dreyfus for the famous NBC announcer Ben Grauer, who used it at his small private press. The press then came into possession of the wood-engraver John DePol who used it for many years to proof his blocks. This beautiful Albion was donated by Mr. DePol to the Cary Collection in 2001.
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This contemporary Original Heidelberg “windmill” platen press, dating from the 1960s is the workhorse of the Cary type composition workshop, where it is frequently run for letterpress demonstrations and in-house printing productions.
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The Dudley A. Weiss Reading Room is named in honor of Mr. Weiss, Executive Director Emeritus of the Library Binding Institute and chief trustee of the Frank M. Barnard Foundation. This elegant facility provides a permanent house for the renowned Bernard C. Middleton Collection of Books on Bookbinding. The room is also equipped with an audio-visual system and lecture space, making it possible to host classes that require access to Cary Collection resources.
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A cozy alcove to the Weiss Room features exhibition cases for display of the finest exemplars from the Middleton Collection.
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