There is something quietly compelling about a typewriter. Before the cursor blink, before autocorrect, before the delete key - there was the definitive, ink-on-paper commitment of a single keystroke. This card celebrates that
Drawn from a US patent application filed in July 1897, the artwork depicts Franz Wagner's landmark design for the Underwood Typewriter Company - the first widely available machine to use a 'front strike' mechanism, meaning the typist could actually see the letters forming as they typed. It was, in its moment, a revelation.
The illustration is rendered with the precise, technical elegance of a patent drawing: every lever, typebar, and platen carriage rendered in fine line. It's a card for the curious. For the person who notices details. For anyone who appreciates the beauty of a well-made thing.
The card itself is made to the same standard as the image it carries.
Printed in England on a light cream 300gsm paper - a carbon-neutral Italian stock made from 100% recycled post-consumer waste - the finish is substantial and tactile. Not flimsy. Not shiny. The weight of it in your hand tells you something about the care taken in making it.
At 170mm × 120mm (approximately 5" × 7"), it's a generous format that gives the artwork the space it deserves.
The inside is blank. Write whatever you like, in your own hand.
Packaging that means it.
The card arrives wrapped in a compostable sleeve made from plant-based materials, paired with a 100% recycled 110gsm kraft envelope. Nothing here ends up in landfill unnecessarily. The Pattern Book has been making cards this way since 2016, and sustainability isn't a recent addition to the brand - it's been built in from the start.
A few practical details:
- Size: 170mm × 120mm (approx. 5" × 7")
- Paper: 300gsm, light cream, carbon-neutral Italian stock — 100% recycled post-consumer waste
- Printed in England
- Blank inside
- Individually wrapped in a compostable plant-based wrapper
- Comes with a 100% recycled 110gsm kraft envelope
Who is this for?
- The writer, the collector, the design-conscious friend who has everything but still appreciates something genuinely considered.
- The person who knows what an Underwood is.
- The one who thinks carefully about the things they send and keeps the ones they receive.
It's also simply a beautiful card — one that holds its own framed on a shelf long after the occasion has passed.
