Shop La Dolfina: 125 Years of British Luxury

SMYTHSON

The ultimate purveyor of luxury handbags, purses and leather diaries.

Engagements Featherweight Book circa 1980

SMYTHSON was always more than a mere stationary shop.

Its first store opened on Bond Street, London, in 1887.

It started life supplying the smart set with calling cards, the elegant version of today's business card, as well as tissue-lined envelopes and gilt-edged invitations to coming out balls.

The product, however, that made its name was the featherweight diary.

For the first time a gentleman could carry his appointment book in his jacket pocket thanks to it being printed on ultra-thin paper.

But the company soon branched out to supplying travel goods to the generation that enjoyed the golden age of steamboats and motor cars.

For anyone posted to the far flung corner of the Empire, they could purchase from Smythson not just a diary, travel journal and headed notepaper, but also a leather case to store their shaving kit or toiletries.

It still sells stationary, including old-fashioned writing paper - it holds three Royal Warrants - as well as brightly coloured notebooks, leather key fobs and passport holders. Their products are known worldwide for being the epitome of quality when it comes to leather books and stationary.