Ruination & Despair

There’s not much to say about this new thank-you note, except that we hope you like it.

The elaborate Celtic capital came originally from a medieval manuscript, but unfortunately the collection we got it from does not reveal which one.

Here at Archelaus we are happy to wrench a quotation shamelessly out of context if we think it will make a better card.

In this case the quotation was attributed by John D. Rockefeller to an engineer working on the Panama Canal. Coupled with the formidable female in the illustration, however, the thought takes on a rather different sense than either man presumably intended.

We hope you like it!

Having written previously about naming children after such things as fabrics, animals, birds, plants, and food, I thought it time to push the envelope even further and explore the use of names from the Periodic Table of Elements. (Continue reading . . .)

This fine new postcard features a pertinent quotation from the American cartoonist and humorist Kin Hubbard’s book Abe Martin’s Home Cured Philosophy (1919).

Actually, we’ve had this card in the works for years, but we couldn’t release it until we had tracked down the quotation’s source and established its copyright status. Personally, I think it was worth the wait!

Today we have another offering for the bibliophiles out there, which, if I’m not mistaken, is a pretty significant chunk of our market.

It features a fine quotation from Austin Phelps, who was a nineteenth-century minister and educator. But we won’t hold that against him.

Anyway, this is the first of several new cards we will be submitting for your consideration and delight over the next few days. Enjoy!

Archelaus is pleased to announce the arrival of its new Eastern Market tote bags, featuring the “Queen of the Ebony Isles,” a stunning illustration by Edmund Dulac (1882-1953). These handsome totes are made from 100% cotton and measure 13″ x 13″ with a 2.5″ gusset. Get ‘em while they last!

Update: Sorry, we’re SOLD OUT!

I see it has been more than a month since anyone has updated this blog. Most distressing! I myself, of course, have been fully occupied with my supervisory functions, primarily enforcing discipline among the Customer Service Minions, as they process orders both large and small. Cadwalader claims to have been designing new cards (to be unveiled shortly, so he says). Dr. Hurlbutt has been too consumed with his esoteric researches to check in. In short, we’ve all had better things to do.

Today, however, I am gratified to report that we have shipped an order to an entirely new wholesale customer, Bell, Book, and Candle in Dover, Delaware, “your one-stop shop for metaphysical needs” (which now include checkbox cards, evidently). And a fine thing, too!

Downs Engravers, one of our earliest wholesale customers, has closed, a victim of the bad economy. We direct its loyal former customers to nearby Copenhaver instead.

Alas, despite its popularity with White House staffers and other office workers in its vicinity, the Stephen Decatur House Museum Shop is not to survive the Museum’s conversion to a National Center for White House History, announced in January. The shop is therefore currently liquidating its entire inventory at highly favorable prices. By now little remains of its once impressive stock of Archelaus cards, but the intelligent bargain hunter can acquire the few it has left for just a dollar apiece.

Today we shipped a second order received in response to our recent advertisement in Greetings etc. — this time from the Whale’s Tale gift shop in Cape May, New Jersey. A seaside resort at the extreme southern tip of the state, Cape May is known for its fine beaches, Victorian architecture, and migratory birds. These claims to fame are now expanding to include Egyptian mongooses and Peruvian llamas!

There was an old hen
    And she had a wooden leg,
And every damned morning
    She laid another egg;
She was the best damned chicken
    On the whole damned farm —
And another little drink
    Wouldn’t do us no harm.

Today we shipped an initial order of fine cards to Paper Gourmet in Auburn, Indiana. Apparently, having seen our advertisement in this summer’s Greetings etc., key decision makers were unable to restrain themselves from obtaining Archelaus cards for sale as soon as possible! This demonstrates a certain weakness of character that is greatly to be encouraged.