Stationery

{{short description|Writing materials}} {{More sources|date=November 2024}}{{Distinguish|Stationary (disambiguation){{!}}Stationary}} {{Redirect|Stationers|the livery company|Stationers' Company}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} [[File:LeCount Bros. and Mansur's Stationery Establishment, LeCount's Building, ... San Francisco, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg|thumb|Le Count Bros. & Mansur's Stationery Establishment, San Francisco, circa 1865?-1880? by Eadweard Muybridge]] [[File:Vănphòngphẩm-InsideStationeryShop03012009606.jpg|thumb|Inside a stationery shop in Hanoi]] '''Stationery''' refers to sheets, pads, envelopes, rolls, reels, and books for writing on, including cut paper, continuous form paper.<ref>Peter Beal, ed., "Stationery", ''A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology, 1450–2000'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008 [2011 online]).</ref> Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer printers. Fasteners, writing instruments, utensils, machines, and containers sold by stationers or stationery shops are not stationery, but office supplies.

==History of stationery== Originally, the term 'stationery' referred to all products sold by a stationer, whose name indicated that his bookshop was at a fixed location. This was usually somewhere near a university, and permanent, while medieval trading was mainly carried on by itinerant peddlers (including chapmen, who sold books) and others (such as farmers and craftsmen) at markets and fairs. It was a unique term used between the 13th and 15th centuries in the manuscript culture. Stationers' shops were places where books were bound, copied, and published. These shops often rented books to students at nearby universities. The books were loaned out in sections, allowing students to study or copy them, and the only way to get the next section was to return the previous one.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Stuart |title=The Library: An Illustrated History |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=9781602397064 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/65 65–66] |url=https://archive.org/details/libraryillustrat0000murr/page/65 }}</ref>

In some cases, stationers' shops became the preferred choice for scholars seeking books, rather than university libraries, because they offered a wider selection.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Stuart |title=The Library: An Illustrated History |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=9781628733228 |page=56 |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1320649 |access-date=19 February 2021}}</ref> The Stationers' Company formerly held a monopoly over the publishing industry in England and was responsible for copyright regulations.<ref name="ARL_timeline">{{cite web |title=Copyright Timeline: A History of Copyright in the United States |website=Association of Research Libraries |url=https://www.arl.org/copyright-timeline/ |access-date=22 December 2025 |quote=The Licensing Act of 1662 confirmed that monopoly and established a register of licensed books to be administered by the Stationers’ Company.}}</ref>

==Uses of stationery== ===Printing=== {{Main|Printing}} Printing is the process of applying a colouring agent to a surface to create a body of text or illustrations. This is often achieved through printing technology, but can be done by hand using more traditional methods. The earliest form of printing is woodblock printing.

==== Letterpress ==== {{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=300|align=right | image1 = Stationery-Letterpress.jpg | image2 = Thermo-stationery.jpg | image3 = Embossing-stationery.jpg | image4 = Engraving Plate Example.jpg | footer = Examples for each category of the various printing techniques for stationery. Clockwise, from upper left: Letterpressed paper, thermographic printed paper, an engraving plate, and embossed paper. }} {{Main|Letterpress printing}} Letterpress is a process of printing several identical copies that presses words and designs onto the page. The print may be inked or blind, but is typically done in a single color. Motifs or designs may be added as many letterpress machines use movable plates that must be hand-set. Letterpress printing remained the primary method of printing until the 19th century.

====Single documents==== {{Main|Computer printer}} When a single document needs to be produced, it may be handwritten or printed, typically by a computer printer. Several copies of one original paper can be produced by some printers using multipart stationery. Typing with a typewriter is largely obsolete, having been superseded for most purposes by preparing a document with a word processor and then printing it.<ref name="Smithsonian_typewriter">{{cite web |date=12 July 2010 |title=No Longer Fear Pen Paralysis! |website=Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound |url=https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2010/07/12/no-longer-fear-pen-paralysis/ |access-date=22 December 2025 |quote=Despite now being replaced with computers, the legacy of typewriters can still be found in computer keyboards and word processors}}</ref>

====Thermographic==== {{Main|Thermographic printing}}

Thermographic printing is a process that involves several stages but can be implemented in a low-cost manufacturing process. The process involves printing the desired designs or text with an ink that remains wet, rather than drying on contact with the paper. The paper is then dusted with a powdered polymer that adheres to the ink. The paper is vacuumed or mechanically or manually agitated to remove excess powder, then heated to near combustion. The wet ink and polymer bond and dry, resulting in a raised print surface similar to the result of an engraving process.

===Embossing=== {{Main|Embossing (paper)}} Embossing is a printing technique used to create raised surfaces in the converted paper stock. The process relies upon mated dies that press the paper into a shape that can be observed on both the front and back surfaces. Two things are required during the process of embossing: a die and a stock. The result is a three-dimensional (3D) effect that emphasizes a particular area of the design.

===Engraving=== {{Main|Engraving}} Engraving is a process that requires a design to be cut into a plate made of relatively hard material. The metal plate is first polished so that the design cut can be easily visible to the person. This technology has a long history and requires a significant amount of skill, experience, and expertise. The finished plate is usually covered in ink, and then the ink is removed from all of the un-etched portions of the plate. The plate is then pressed into paper under substantial pressure. The result is a design that is slightly raised on the surface of the paper and covered in ink. Due to the cost of the process and expertise required, many consumers opt for thermographic printing, a process that results in a similarly raised print surface, but through different means at less cost.{{cn|date=December 2025}}

== Classifications == thumb|A stationery shop on 4 November 1973 in Iran{{Excessive examples|date=September 2025|section}} *Business stationery: Business card, letterhead, presentation folder, invoice, receipt *Ink and toner: **Dot matrix printer's ink ribbon **Inkjet cartridge **Laser printer toner **Photocopier toner *Filing and storage: **Expandable file **File folder, hanging file folder **Ring binder **Index card **Two-pocket portfolio *Mailing and shipping supplies: **Envelope *Paper and pad: **Notebooks, wirebound notebook, writing pads, college ruled paper, wide-ruled paper **Office paper: dot matrix paper, inkjet printer paper, laser printer paper, photocopy paper **Loose leaves

==School supplies== Many shops that sell stationery also sell other school supplies for students in primary and secondary education, including pocket calculators, display boards, compasses and protractors, pencil cases, set squares, lunch boxes, and related items.<ref>[http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/IP%20Issue%20Papers/IP04001_school_related_supplies_ip_7_29_04.pdf Streamlined Sales Tax Project "Definitions for School Related Supplies: SSTP Recommendations for Amendment to Agreement; July 29, 2004"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924110858/http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/IP%20Issue%20Papers/IP04001_school_related_supplies_ip_7_29_04.pdf |date=24 September 2015 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.tax.virginia.gov/site.cfm?alias=SchoolSuppliesandClothingHolidayFAQs Virginia Department of Taxation "School Supplies and Clothing FAQs"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207155339/http://www.tax.virginia.gov/site.cfm?alias=SchoolSuppliesandClothingHolidayFAQs |date=7 February 2015 }}</ref>

==See also== * Office supplies * List of stationery topics

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links==  *{{Wiktionary inline|stationery}} *{{Commons category-inline}} *{{Merriam-Webster|Stationery}}

Category:Stationery Category:Office equipment