“For the Pampered Audience”

In its heyday between 1870 and the First World War, the luxury paper industry produced an abundance of items “for the pampered audience.” Decorated place cards from personal estates, nostalgic paper cutouts depicting Jewish customs and festivals in lavishly printed color, and extravagantly embossed, stamped, mounted, and folded greeting cards offer us many insights into a time when filigree stationary was seen as a sign of cultural progress.