Exchanging business cards is so much part of modern life that we seldom stop to think where the custom came from. We take it for granted that business cards are affordable for all, that with modern design and printing methods they can come in an infinite variety of creative or traditional designs. If we think about the business cards of times past at all, we assume that they must have been rather dull and drab in comparison. Let’s cast our eyes back to their origins and see if that’s true.
Today’s business card doesn’t trace its lineage directly back several centuries. It descends rather from the intermarriage of two distinct types of cards from past centuries: the visiting or calling card, used for social purposes among the upper and middle classes, and the trading cards that were used to promote businesses in 18th and 19th century Europe, London in particular.
Visiting cards are said to have their origins in 15th century China, but were adopted in Europe first in the French court of the 17th century, where King Louis XIV made them de rigueur for the aristocracy. Visiting cards were an important part of social etiquette for the upper classes throughout the 18th and 19th centuries: cards were sent in ahead of a caller, borne by a servant on a silver salver so that the mistress of the house could decide whether or not to accept the call, or they were simply left at an acquaintance’s house, in the expectation that they would then return the compliment. These cards were generally quite small and simple in design, usually just the name and title of the caller engraved on thick card to make a good first impression.
Trading cards evolved separately through the 18th century as a way of promoting a business establishment. These were the days before advertising in newspapers and magazines became widespread. Trade cards were the principal advertisement for a business. They were designed to catch the eye, extol the benefits of the product and give directions to the business premises. The first cards were produced using woodcuts or copper plate engravings, but as new colour lithographic processes became available and more affordable, the cards became more and more elaborate and colourful. They became very collectible and the more attractive and memorable ones would be pasted into scrapbooks, so there was much competition in designing and producing cards that would catch the eye and be kept, very much the same as with today’s business cards.
However with the advent of wide-spread newspaper and magazine advertising in the early 20th century, these trading cards fell into disuse. Businesses replaced them with a version of the visiting card adapted for business use, the early forerunners of our modern cards. While these were less elaborate than the trading cards, it wasn’t unusual for them to be illustrated with a portrait of the owner of the card, with a choice few words extolling their services, as well as the address and telephone number of the business.
Now it is the social visiting card that has fallen into disuse and the business card that remains the most common card to exchange with new acquaintances, although the rigid etiquette that governed an exchange of visiting cards has thankfully relaxed. What still remains the same is that today’s business card is all about creating a good first impression, catching the eye and being memorable.