Milestones in Printing

title graphic in red type "Milestones in Printing"
Date and Time
-
Location
Cary Graphic Arts Collection, Wallace Library, 2nd floor

This exhibition brings the evolution of relief printing to life through a timeline of artifacts from the Cary Graphic Arts Collection. It begins with the inception of printing during the Tang Dynasty in China, 7th century CE, through woodblock printing and later movable type, and moves to Johann Gutenberg’s innovations of the printing press and casting type in a hand mold in the 15th century. Milestones in Printing progresses through centuries of letterpress printing and concludes with the mechanical breakthroughs in automated printing of the 20th century and the legacy of the RIT School of Printing.

The artifacts on display in Milestones in Printing are only a small selection from the Cary Graphic Arts Collection. If you have an interest in the history of printing or any related topics, please make an appointment to visit our library at cary.rit.edu.

—Amelia Fontanel & Steven Galbraith, curators

Image Gallery

black and white line engraving of a printing press
Hand holding metal and wood devices with letterforms.
man working on a large printing press
group of people around a wooden printing press
grid of a drawer holding printing type
people engaged in carving and printing wood blocks
two men printing on a wooden hand press
A man carving a letter Q out of paper in foreground; a woman setting type in background.