If John M. Wing is known at all in the world of book collecting and bibliography it is more from the foundation that bears his name at the Newberry Library in Chicago than from his book collection. The John M. Wing Foundation is arguably one of the best collections on the history of printing in the world. Not only does it comprise both primary and secondary sources on the history of printing, but it also contains significant materials on typography, paper making, bookbinding, book illustration, and calligraphy. In short, this collection of more than forty thousand items is a repository of virtually all aspects of the book.

Wing left his entire personal library and nearly $250,000 to the Newberry Library; his will stipulated that the foundation was to use only the interest from his bequest to purchase books "which treat of, relate to, illustrate, exemplify, or depict, either wholly...