The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1904-01-01
The New Years Card
How It Began and the Many
Processes 1t Went Through.

What ar. ordinary, undressing item
In our social life is the modern visiting
card! But this was not always so,
! though 1t has barely been in existence
$50 years. 1t owed Its ori-..n to the
custom Of writing the name or some
times a message on the bach Of a play
ing card. says a writer in the wash
tngton Post. Occasionally one par
ticular q r was chosen with intent,
and the duchess of Dorset received an
apt epigram in return for one she sent
to a well known clergyman. The
verses end as follows: you sent me
ten hearts. the tithes only mine. So
give me one heart and burn t'other
nine"
Toward the end OF the last century
the visiting cards Of the upper classes
We're veritable works OF art, land by
types OF engraving survive. They were
of varying size, but the majority not
larger than about two and a half inches
by two inches, while today those used
by gentlemen are two inches by one
n a half inches and by ladies -four
inches by two and a half inches. There
We're many square ones used about
1880 to 1880. One belonging to an Eng
lish society leader Of {. century ago
dates from HOLE street. Cavendish
square, a spot associated with Lord
Byron. Her husbands card is smaller
n has q sketch of the family home in
one corner, which still remains in the
possession of their collateral descend
ants. The notion Is SO good it deserves
to be followed, for 1t would certainly
add to the interest of the cards we
leave. to each other II they bore the
semblanee Of our friends homes as
we'll as their names.
Another aSamDle shows that hictnrv
repeats itself, for, although issued in
the eighteenth century, the lady was
al home on Monday" as many mod
fsh DANES are now. Visiting en- blanc,
as It was called-viz, by leaving a card
was a novelty then, and on many
which come from Italy "1n persona" 10
written. showing that they had been
left and not sent by a servant.
These are the simpler class of cards.
A vast number of others in use at this
time show the ruling powers in deco
ration. Hundreds of the decorative
designs bear the names Of conte1n-
porary duchess, or, rather, according
to the ancient spelling, "dutchesse"-
st. Adams, Bolton and Grafton anon
the number. The latter, according to
Horace Walpole, saved her life by
playing loo when in Rome, instead OF
going to a party at q palace where the
roof fell In.
Many of the tickets" as visiting
cards were called in those days, were
engraved with architectural buildings
in Rome, Berlin and elsewhere, and
long in fashion. They We're sold in
written upon them, and even when
they We're printed it was rare that one
particular pattern was kept for any
special person. The head OF a well
known Warwickshire family during a
visit to Rome in 1888 kept, and has
la, al 81 - -,r,- - r. IN L. f.
quaintance. On these figure the arch
Of Titus, st. Peters, the castle of st.
Angelo and many other lions of Rome.
Not a few OF the visiting cards Of
this period recall nothing SO much as
the funeral monuments Of those days.
Sometimes the names appear on well
engraved vases, sometimes OF CHM
ney pieces. Some are square,, with
supporting columns, scrolls and cur
tains; some display %festoons Of flow
ers and a variety Of animals.
The cognomens OF naval officers
emerge from the midst Of spikes, an
chors, ropes, flags and other naval In
sigma, while military officers appear
surrounded by helmets, cannon, tents
and soldiers. Artists figure amid pal
cites, brushes and other adjuncts of
their art, mostly accompanied by a
graceful female form, and every kind
Of musical instrument has been called
III pla ASob AoA . IN
harpsichords-for musicians. Birds OF
many kinds hold scrolls bearing the
names in their books, ar they are
written on their breasts or outstretcl1ed
wings. Animals often play q double
part. The name of Hare, for example,
is represented as a rebus by that little
animal running at full speed, while a
goat figured on the fashionable designs
of 1855. Archery, agriculture and sport
generally left their impress on the Wis
ting card.
About 1876 pure white cards with en-
bossed borders and large embossed let
terings We're the prevalent mode. His
tory again repeats itself-the daugh-
ter's name appeared then with her
mothers, as it does now. How many
OF the titles then extant have died out!
It very often happened that the lady's
cards and the gentleman's We're Of the
same size, but not always.
Tor her ticket" the Duchess OF Leeds
In 1854 favored a very pretty engraving
of a Chinese figure looking over a low
doorway. with an Anglicized pagoda at
the side. On another card bearing a
famous lords name figures a powerful
/ engraving of the sphinx, with the
Egyptian pyramids in the rear.
Many a great lame of those days had
her name on her visiting card sur
! rounded by a framework held by Gu
pids. These were far prettier than the
somber looking cards covered with
close set, engraved, horizontal lines and
a very deep border, Monograms and
~coronets figured on some of them and
have left to posterity fine specimens of.
steel engraving, but the most elaborate
of heraldic cards We're generally for
eign, and some of the foreign embas-
fies employed colored crests occasion
ally introduced in the center.
1sYLvEsTER ABEND."