004. Updike Collection on the History of Printing

Providence Public Library’s collection of books on printing was begun in 1910 with the purchase of over a thousand duplicate books from the St. Bride Library in London. The purchase was made at the suggestion of Mr. Daniel Berkeley Updike of Boston, and he contributed generously to the fund drive that enabled the Library to make the purchase. Mr. Updike, who died in 1941, was the proprietor of the Merrymount Press and the author of the classic work Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use, first published in 1922. He bequeathed his personal collection of books on printing to the Library, and later several other gifts and purchases strengthened the collection. Today the collection contains over 7,500 volumes, 600 letters and other manuscripts, hundreds of prints (mostly portraits of printers, typefounders, booksellers and publishers), much printed ephemera and some artifacts including three printing presses, a wooden type case, a set of punches and two sets of matrices for the Montallegro and Merrymount types which Mr. Updike commissioned for his own use. The collection is particularly strong in early type specimen books. They date from the 16th century, and about 400 of them were printed before the 20th century. The collection is also strong in Mr. Updike’s own Merrymount Press, in books designed by Bruce Rogers, and in books printed by Giambattista Bodoni. Current collecting is focused on typography of Asia, India and Eastern Europe. Learn more about the collection on the library website.