The Witherle Memorial Library celebrates the glories of the manual and electric typewriter in a new exhibit featuring more than two dozen typewriters, part of the much larger collection of the late Justin F. Cooper, a long-time summer resident of Castine.

Cooper was an inveterate collector – toy soldiers, slide rules, musical instruments, Texaco toys, trains and more. And typewriters. He had a boundless curiosity about the world around him, according to his widow Barbara K. Cooper who has loaned the typewriters to the library for the exhibit.

Like a true collector, he kept a record of each typewriter acquisition. While in storage, many have a piece of paper in the machine noting where and when he obtained the typewriter and how much it cost.

Justin Cooper’s full collection totals more than 60 typewriters. About a third of them will be included in the exhibit, according to Lynn Cooper, his daughter-in-law, who has researched and curated the library exhibit.

The exhibit is open to the public during regular library hours. It will run through the end of August.

Artwork by Lynn Cooper.