Dijatul Business Card

Business cards originated as trade cards in 17th century England. They were used both as advertising and as maps as there was no formal street numbering system in London at the time.

By the 1870s the trade card’s popularity had made it one of the most widespread advertising formats—promoting everything from baby milk to pianos to patent medicines.

They were displayed in offices, general stores, hotels, railroad stations, and restaurants, and salesmen assisted store owners in arranging advertisements for store counters and window displays using trade cards as well as larger formatted show cards.

The advances in chromo-lithography at that time made such colorful creations possible that people even used them as home decoration (The Art of American Advertising: Trade Cards, Harvard Business School, Baker Library Historical Collections).