Melbert B. Cary, Jr., and the Press of the Woolly Whale book

In the early part of the 20th century, Melbert B. Cary, Jr., imported some of the finest European types into the United States and ran a small private press. After his untimely death, much of the press’s material, together with Cary’s superb collection of books on printing and the graphic arts, formed the basis of the Cary Library at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The creation of this book, in tribute to Cary’s printing, was led by David Pankow, the curator of that collection. Fortunately there were some original cuts from the press available, which Dave printed at the Cary press. These were tipped into the book, along with an original leaf. Other items were reproduced by offset lithography. Letterpress for the text was, of course, in perfect keeping with the letterpress of Cary’s press—though in this instance we printed from polymer plates, not actual metal type.