According to Wikipedia’s entry on Business Cards, business cards started many hundreds of years ago. However, according to history, they weren’t actually business cards, they were calling, or visiting cards.
We first have record of these visiting cards appearing in Chine in the 15th century. They were used by the servants of the wealthy to announce the arrival of the aristocratic and royal elite. Only the best of high society used visiting cards. And of course, they were all hand written, not printed like we do today.
These visiting cards were laced with fine linen and bore the coat of arms of the family arriving.
Throughout the centuries visiting cards evolved to become Trade Cards in the 17th century in London. Merchants used these new cards to give directions or maps to their place of business. They also used them to pass messages along to customers. These cards were vital during this time because there was no formal set of street naming or business numbering like we have today. Essentially these merchants didn’t have an address so a map was crucial!
After that time business cards became what we know them as today. We still use them many times for the same purposes, to alert someone of our arrival, to advertise our business, and to pass information between two people.
So if someone hands you a business card, don’t just throw it away, remember from where these little pieces of paper have come, and smile that you know the history of business cards!