As quoted from Vogue's Need it Now, by Stephanie LaCava and edited by Virginia Tupker, "There’s a special sort of “sample sale” starting online, one unlike all others. Stationer Nancy Sharon Collins is about to launch a site that allows you to choose from her storied collection of bespoke, hand-engraved note cards. Let’s explain: Collins is also an archivist, her specialty being the research of type and print history, meaning she’s an expert on the best stationery. Part of her work is to keep track of the houses that have sadly gone out of business—recall the beloved Mrs. John L. Strong—which means she comes across hundreds of vintage steel engraving dies. Naturally, out of curiosity and duty, she creates small editions to see the prints created with the newly acquired designs. “It occurred to me that rather than hoarding them, I could offer the public these charming little proofs.” For example, some of Collins’s favorite designs are from a shuttered New York City engraver that had its offices on West Twenty-eighth Street. “My favorite is the log, probably something used at a timber or lumber company; unexpected, charming, and kind of cartoony.” Though not as easy to come by, not to be forgotten is Collins’s one-of-a-kind work. She let us in on a special secret: She was once commissioned to hand-engrave an Ellsworth Kelly artwork from a personal, private collection. . . . Who knows what we’ll find in the samples?"http://petitesuite.wordpress.com./
