Calling, Cards & Cases

Calling, Cards & Cases is the most comprehensive survey of the subject to be published to date and has been compiled by David Mitchinson, the former Head of Collections and Exhbitions at the Henry Moore Foundation, to appeal as much to readers attracted to collecting as to those interested in the habits of nineteenth-century society.
In twenty chapters, the author takes a look at a forgotten moment of social history when communication between individuals was more formal than it is today. How calling – or visiting, as it was often known – spread around the world to become a prerequisite before any other form of social activity could commence is explained through looking at the art and literature of the period.

The book details the etiquette of calling within the social mores of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century society in Britain, Europe and America, and investigates card and case usage, printing techniques, manufacturers, and the materials used in case production.
In order to pay a call, beautifully printed cards and exquisitely constructed cases were required. Shown in this publication is a representative selection of these small treasures from the past that can still be found by today’s collector.

Calling, Cards & Cases. Patrick Cramer Publisher 2012. 432 pages – 310 x 245 mm – 314 full colour, showing over 400 cards and 600 cases all reproduced actual size, with 17 paintings and other background material. Hardbound with printed jacket.