Visiting cards (visite biletes), also known as a calling cards, is a small paper card with one's name printed on it. They first appeared in China in the 15th century and in Europe in the 17th Century. The footmen of aristocrats and of royalty would deliver these first European visiting cards to the servants of their prospective hosts solemnly introducing the arrival of their owners.
These first cards were roughly the size of a playing card and in their earliest form were also used as all-purpose stationery on which to jot promissory notes or other messages. By the reign of the French King Louis XIV (r. 1643 to 1715), however, visiting cards had become a staple of upper echelon etiquette with a sophisticated system of rules attached to their use. He was styled the Grand Monarch, and his brilliant court at Versailles became a model and perhaps also the despair of other, less rich and less powerful princes who nevertheless accepted his theory of absolute Monarch.
A great supporter of the arts, Louis patronized the foremost writers and artists of his time, including Moliere, Jean Racine, Jean de La Fontaine, and Charles Le Brun. The architect Jules Mansart supervised the building of the lavish palace of Versailles. Because of the brilliance of his court, Louis was called "Le Roi Soleil" and "Le Grand Monarque."
Visiting cards became an indispensable tool of etiquette, with sophisticated rules governing their use. The essential convention was that one person would not expect to see another person in her own home (unless invited or introduced) without first leaving his visiting card for the person at her home. Upon leaving the card, he would not expect to be admitted at first, but might receive a card at his own home in response. This would serve as a signal that a personal visit and meeting at home would not be unwelcome. On the other hand, if no card were forthcoming in return, or if a card were sent in an envelope, a personal visit was thereby discouraged. As an adoption from French and English etiquette, visiting cards became common amongst the aristocracy of Europe, and also in the United States. The whole procedure depended upon there being servants to open the door and receive the cards and it was, therefore, confined to the social classes which employed servants.
These cards, as a means of introducing their owners, had a glory all their own, decorated with engraved ornaments and elegant coats of arms. By the 19th century a visiting (or by this time "calling") card was essential to the life of any upper or middle class lady or gentlemen. Each home had a silver card tray, which resided on the hall table along with a pencil and a pad of paper. The cards collected in the tray served as a catalog of those who had visited the household and of the households to which a reciprocal call was due. The giving and receiving of cards, then, was tangible evidence of meeting one's social obligations.
However, the standard form visiting card in the 19th century in the United Kingdom was a plain card with nothing more than the bearer's name on it. Sometimes the name of a gentlemen's club might be added, but addresses were not otherwise included. Visiting cards were kept in highly decorated card cases.
Samples:
1. The Visiting card of Johann van Beethoven apothecary shop (Brother of Ludwig van Beethoven)
2. Visiting card of Kaiser Wilhelm. The German text reads, "Wilhelm, Deutscher Kaiser u. König von Preußen" (translation: "William, German Emperor and King of Prussia").
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