Architectural Stationary
August 11, 2010 10:39 PM   Subscribe

Around the late 1800s and early 1900s, receipts, envelopes, letterheads, and other corporate correspondence often featured drawings of a factory or storefront. Columbia University's Biggert Collection of Architectural Vignettes on Commercial Stationery contains over 1600 examples. Why not browse through?

Further reading [pdf] in case you want to go beyond just looking at the pictures.
posted by Guernsey Halleck (15 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
Forgot to mention: via
posted by Guernsey Halleck at 10:40 PM on August 11, 2010


Those are absolutely beautiful, thank you.

I was looking for a link I'm sure was on metafilter somewhere about slightly more modern letterheads but couldn't find it, but came across these pretty avant garde ones instead, so yay.
posted by shinybaum at 11:12 PM on August 11, 2010


This sounds like something invented by Chris Ware.
posted by klangklangston at 11:59 PM on August 11, 2010


This is the best thing.
posted by mumkin at 12:30 AM on August 12, 2010


Vaguely related.
posted by lumensimus at 12:41 AM on August 12, 2010


Awesome, thanks!

I take this moment to reflect on what a pleasure it is to live in an old city, to be able to take a look at the wonderful pictures but then to be able to walk down and…

Motherfuckers.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:55 AM on August 12, 2010 [3 favorites]


The letter cancellations look exactly the same as they did until not too long ago. Some things should not change.

The printing industry must have been wild back in those days.
posted by gjc at 4:35 AM on August 12, 2010


What an amazing resource, thank you! This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me feel like I was born 100 years too late (except for all the subsequent advances in medicine, civil rights, etc.)

For slightly more modern letterheads, check out Letterheady.

For a great font inspired by those wonderful old receipts, check out Letterhead Fonts' Billhead, and this nice tutorial about re-creating an engraved cloud effect. See also Tom Kennedy's website.
posted by usonian at 4:56 AM on August 12, 2010 [3 favorites]


Good lord this is awesome.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:17 AM on August 12, 2010


Nice! You can find tons of these at ephemera shows and dealers - as collectables go, they're very affordable.
posted by beagle at 5:17 AM on August 12, 2010


I love old handwriting, letters, and postcards, and I know it's been discussed here before, but I still believe they are better than what has mostly replaced them.
posted by belvidere at 6:19 AM on August 12, 2010


Awesome,awesome stuff. This will be a go-to source of inspiration for me.

Bookmarked.

Thanks.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:40 AM on August 12, 2010


This is wonderful, and makes me go all gooey inside. Thank you for posting.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:09 AM on August 12, 2010


I love looking through these. I think I might have to invent a building for my letterhead. Maybe a nice engraving of some really Jestony looking building.
posted by shothotbot at 8:58 AM on August 12, 2010


Brick and mortar, for the win.
posted by redsparkler at 10:21 AM on August 12, 2010


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