The word stationery is a bit of an oddity and being of an inquisitive nature I have searched high and low to bring to you the definitive answer as to its origins. In this task I have catastrophically failed! There are many references to timelines and certain correspondence relating to stationery and dating back to the early 19th century, but with limited time available to discover the true roots of the word I only managed to get as far back as 1860 and the debate over the spelling of the word itself.
The debate really hinged around the obvious; stationary, which is the next closest word in our English dictionary, meaning motionless or standing still. Stationery relates more often than not to paper, writing utensils, postage stamps and anything else really that can be utilised to produce correspondence, or indeed aid their journey from the sender to receiver of those correspondence.
Ryman, who have been manufacturing stationery products long before I went to school suggest that the history of stationery stems back to the days when there were two types of trader; those who travelled across towns and cities pedalling their wares and those who owned premises, such as our high street stores, who were therefore stationery. I quite like this idea describing the history of stationery although I am have been unable to discover why, or when shops and traders selling food and similar items may have branched off into their own sub group.
Wikipedia articles have outlined the history of stationery in a similar manner, yet being one of the frontrunners for discovering information on the internet I was hoping for a more substantial answer; "Originally the term 'stationery' referred to all products sold by a stationer, whose name indicates that his book shop was on a fixed spot, usually near a university, and permanent, while medieval trading was mainly ambulant, by peddlers (including chapmen, who sold books) and others (such as farmers and craftsmen) at non-permanent markets such as fairs. It was a special term used between the 13th and 15th centuries in the manuscript culture.
| |
StarReviews Top 3
Stationery Websites |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Though decreasingly popular in western culture, stationery has been an important part of good social etiquette, particularly since the Victorian era. Some usages of stationery, such as sending a manufactured reply card to a wedding invitation, have changed from offensive to appropriate”. So, it seems that either the history of stationery has been lost over the years, or that it is considered a subject in a league so boring that it has simply never been written about.
One thing is for sure, stationery in its true or original state is being superseded as technology provides us with electronic means of corresponding and therefore perhaps it is time for the history of stationery to move on and a revised definition to be provided for future generations.
Keyboards, email, word documents ... are these the future of stationery? Certainly there are items closer in physical resemblance to their predecessors, such as electronic pens and the like, but of course they still won’t provide the physical result that we associate with traditional stationery products, primarily letters.
My research into the history of stationery has reached a non conclusive end, but I will be interested to see how in the fullness of time the definition does or does not adapt itself to the true, current and future meaning of how we produce correspondence and the like.
Tags:
collectibles,
ink