Overlijdensbericht aan Adriaan van der Willigen Possibly 1839

This bereavement card was produced in the Netherlands in 1829 using paper and ink. The process of printing, especially of ephemeral items like this one, tells us a lot about the culture of the time. The evenness of the ink and the regularity of the lettering suggests it was produced using a printing press, a technology that, by the early 19th century, was becoming more widespread, but still involved considerable labor. The layout is carefully considered, with stylized flourishes added by hand around the edges. This combination of mass production and individualized detail speaks to a society grappling with the increasing industrialization, where printed matter was still valued as a personal statement. Though this card is now anonymous, its existence provides a window into the lives of ordinary people, and the rituals of mourning in the early 19th century. It blurs the boundary between personal expression and commercial production.