Specimens of monogrammed stationery
[Back to list of illustration]
Specimens of business letterheads
[Back to list of illustration]
On the use of crests in stationery one authority says:
As to the important question of crests and heraldic emblems in our present-day stationery, these are being widely used, but no crests are made to order where the family itself has none. Only such crests as definitely belong to the family are ever engraved on notepaper, cards, or any new style of place cards. Several stationers maintain special departments where crests are looked up and authenticated and such families as are found in Fairbairn's Crests, Burke's Peerage, Almanche de Gotha, the Armoire Général, are utilized to help in the establishment of the armorial bearing of American families. Of course, the College of Heraldry is always available where the American family can trace its ancestors to Great Britain.
Many individuals use the coat-of-arms of their mothers, but according to heraldry they really have no right to do so. The woman to-day could use her father's and husband's crests together if the crests are properly in pale, that is, if a horizontal line be drawn to cut the shield in two—the husband's on the left, the father's on the right. If the son wants to use the father's and mother's crest, this must be quartered to conform to rule, the arms of the father to be in the first and fourth quarter; that of the mother in the second and third quarter. The daughter is not supposed to use a coat-of-arms except in lozenge form.
The dinner card that reflects the most refined and modern type of usage is a card of visiting card size, with a coat-of-arms in gold and gilt border, on real parchment. These cards are hand-lettered and used as place cards for dinner parties.