18th Century Bussiness Trade Card Collection Tissue Paper

A trade card is a square card that is small, but bigger than the modern visiting card, and is exchanged in social circles, that a business distributes to clients and potential customers. Trade cards first became popular at the end of the 17th century in Paris, Lyon and London. They functioned as advertising and also as maps, directing the public to the merchants' stores, no formal street address numbering system existed at the time. The trade card is an early example of the modern business card. Some businesses began to create increasingly sophisticated designs, especially with the development of colour printing. A few companies specialised in producing stock cards, usually with an image on one side and space on the other side for the business to add its own information. As the designs became more attractive and colourful, collecting trade cards became a popular hobby.