For a little while now I’ve been looking for an old library card catalog.  My quest has largely been disappointing in its results (probably because I don’t want to spend too much on it), but the other day I got a bit of inspiration to keep looking, via this design*sponge spotlight on Matthew Fairbanks. Fairbanks is a Brooklyn-based furniture artist who created this lovely card catalog writing desk.

I went hunting for some other nice card catalog shots and found lots of good ones, rekindling my hope that there’s a card catolog out there for me somewhere…

Good ol’ closeup in this ‘good ol days‘ shot from emdot on flickr:

Very pretty set up on Poetic Home‘s “My Favorite Vintage Things”:

Tasteful (ha ha) use of card catolags on Apartment Therapy:

I love the rich, warm wood of this catalogue from Underpuppy on flickr:

Interesting drawer…“Cataloging the Ladies, Barr Smith Libary, Adelaide” from ms sdb on flickr:

And lastly, a blast from the past — New York Public Library, circa 1923: