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Vintage Stationery
Vintage custom stationery is very collectible. It’s valued for its unique mix of graphic design, advertising, and historical detail. The cost of custom letterhead during the 19th and early 20th centuries generally limited its use to businesses, or to boldly self-promotional personalities such as authors or vaudeville players.
Collectors like to focus on the years from the Civil War to the mid 1930s, since even very modest businesses during those years sought high-quality printing. It wasn’t until after 1851 that changes in postal rates and the invention of a chemical method for making paper from wood pulp combined to make stationery widely popular.
Printed stationery bestowed legitimacy on an enterprise, and design conveyed image. In those days, custom printing was one of a business’s few promotional tactics. By the 1890s, printers were cashing in on the industrial boom by forming publicity departments staffed with designers who flattered clients with elaborate illustrations of their bustling businesses. Consumerism was on the rise, so letterhead also pictured fashionable clothes or candy bars unwrapped and ready for snacking. After 1940, images like these appeared more in magazine and newspaper ads than on stationery.
Collectors like to focus on the years from the Civil War to the mid 1930s, since even very modest businesses during those years sought high-quality printing. It wasn’t until after 1851 that changes in postal rates and the invention of a chemical method for making paper from wood pulp combined to make stationery widely popular.
Printed stationery bestowed legitimacy on an enterprise, and design conveyed image. In those days, custom printing was one of a business’s few promotional tactics. By the 1890s, printers were cashing in on the industrial boom by forming publicity departments staffed with designers who flattered clients with elaborate illustrations of their bustling businesses. Consumerism was on the rise, so letterhead also pictured fashionable clothes or candy bars unwrapped and ready for snacking. After 1940, images like these appeared more in magazine and newspaper ads than on stationery.
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