Victorian visiting cards weren't just used to announce arrival, but also to leave at the house (in a special card bowl) if the homeowner was out, so they would know they had been called on. Since there was a whole big deal about visiting etiquette, this was important--people would feel very slighted if their visits hadn't been returned, so it was like the Victorian version of a phone message left to know that there'd been a missed call.

Regarding the etiquette, there were hierarchies of visits--less important people usually got morning visits from a more important person, important people got afternoon ones, etc. A higher-ranking person who had some sort of social obligation to a lower-ranking person for some reason could also time their visit so that the visitee was out, and just leave their card, thus "paying their respects" without actually having to sit through a real visit.

The bowls where the cards were left would be used both as storage and display, and a lower ranking person who got a visit from someone important might leave the visiting card prominently displayed in the bowl as proof of social standing.

There was also a bunch of stuff about the folding of corners on the cards, and what that meant, but I forget the details.

By  Katrine, at 26 February, 2009 14:29  

Thanks for this great info!

Interesting to think of parallels here:

* Leaving a Facebook wall post or sending a text message if you missed someone.

* Voicemail phone tag

Also about hierarchies of visits - connotations b/w Monday drinks and Friday dinner.

By  An Xiao, at 27 February, 2009 10:52  

An, this entry that you made - as usual - crosses paths with things I happen to put thought into also.
When it comes to cards, and their significance, I always think of the classic television show "Have Gun Will Travel". In every episode, Palidin will at some point present his card, and the musical accompaniment is always the same when it comes out.
You can see a picture of the card here:
http://www.radioarchives.org/pictures/Have%20Gun%20card.jpg
Notice how basic the card is. For contact, it simply says "Wire Paladin - San Francisco".
I have always thought it would be fun to have a card that says "Have Yo-Yo, Will Travel" "Google Charlie Windstorm - New York", and nothing more, except maybe an illustration of a rook chess piece.
In fact, the next time I see you, I hope to have one.

By  Charlie Yo-Yo, at 28 February, 2009 16:14  

That's so funny, Charlie! Would you be interested in writing a guest post on this? Sounds like we have a lot of similar ideas here!

By  An Xiao, at 11 March, 2009 20:27