Carter's Ink Company was an American manufacturer of ink and related products, based first in Boston and later in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was once the largest ink manufacturer in the world. Apart from ink, Carter produced a line of fountain pens during a brief period in the 1920s. Some collectors regard those pens as items of a fine quality. Later, the company was acquired by Avery-Dennison. Nowadays, Avery commercialises rubber stamps under the Carter brand. History Early years The William Carter Company, the forerunner of Carter's Ink, was founded in 1858 by Boston stationer William Carter who, in order to supplement his paper sales, had started repackaging other companies' inks and selling them under his own name. In 1860, William Carter's brother, Edward Carter, joined the company and the firm became known as "William Carter and Bro." The Civil War disrupted Carter's primary ink supplier, so William Carter obtained the use of its formulas on a royalty basis and started making his own inks and mucilage, which necessitated the move to a larger building. Another brother, John H. Carter, joined the company, which became "William Carter & Bros." Development and final years In 1865 William's cousin, John W. Carter, joined the enterprise and the name became "Carter Bros. & Company." John W. Carter focused his efforts on the ink part of the business which, along with the sales efforts of James P. Dinsmore, resulted in such growth that the ink business was separated from the paper business and moved into its own quarters in 1868." The entire firm and both of its divisions and their separate buildings were destroyed the night of November 9, 1872, in what has been called the Great Boston Fire of 1872. All that was left was the company's good will and its formulas. After the fire in 1872, John W. Carter teamed up with James P. Dinsmore to buy the ink division and start a new firm known as "Carter, Dinsmore and Company." The new company thrived and by 1884 had become the largest ink producer in the world. Contributing to this growth was John W. Carter's belief in and commitment to research to develop new and better inks. James P. Dinsmore retired in 1888, and John W. Carter drowned in 1895, which created an organizational crisis in the unincorporated enterprise, which led to its incorporation later that year as "The Carter's Ink Company. At