Brief aan Willem Frederik Winter Possibly 1910

This letter was made in 1910 by J. Vurtheim & Zoon, a Dutch printing company. It is made of paper and ink, two materials that have been essential to the circulation of information for centuries. The printing process itself is key here. The crisp, uniform lettering speaks to the industrialization of communication at the turn of the century. Movable type and mechanized presses allowed for the mass production of documents like this. The letterhead, with the company's name and location, reinforces this sense of modern commerce. Even the handwritten additions, likely penned by a company representative, sit atop a pre-printed foundation. This merging of the handmade and the machine-made reflects a society in transition, where the efficiency of industrial production was becoming increasingly intertwined with everyday life and work. So, as you consider this letter, remember that it's not just about the words it contains, but also the means by which those words were brought to life, and the social context in which they circulated.