the journey begins...

A brief introduction so that you may understand why this blog and my business website cover a considerable diversity of vintage paper: I love images and am fascinated by all aspects of history, but most particularly social history. So I am lucky that for the past 30 years I have had a career that allows me to immerse myself in both on a day to day basis. (Visit the Burdon Family Booksellers facebook page to learn of how I got into that career - and of my extended family of booksellers.)

The only problem is that I love ALL kinds of pictures and have had a hard time limiting myself to a particular medium in which they appear. So from a modest beginning selling antique prints and maps, my business has expanded to include illustrated books, vintage magazines and paper ephemera (of which more later).

From the fifteenth to the twentieth century, from the East and the West, my stock focuses on printed materials, not paintings or drawings. The manual (as opposed to process print) is a very intimate expression which reveals most when examined close-up. It is a tactile medium, with different types of paper (wonderful to handle) affecting the look of the image and revealing such important facts as when the print was actually made. Most significantly it is a very democratic medium, and has been used to record the lives, interests and aspirations of all levels of society.

One truly can journey in time and place through the world of vintage graphics. I hope that you will join me as I share stories of some of the treasures I come across and tips on collecting and caring for them.

Elisabeth