Waldorf Club

Waldorf Club writing paper has nothing to do with the Waldorf hotels (aside, perhaps, from a hope of accruing some unearned prestige by association). Neither has it anything to do with the Waldorf educational method, the salad, or the Muppet of the same name. The paper was first sold in 1910, two years after the London Waldorf Hotel opened its doors, and was apparently among the first to be advertised nationally in the UK. It was made by Jacobsen, Welch and Co., who had their origins in London before becoming associated with their Newton Mill plant in Cheshire.

My current box of the stuff (shown above) came with a couple of slips reminding the owner to re-stock: ‘Say this after me - “I must get some more Waldorf Club - the noteworthy notepaper”’. The watermark on the pre-folded Post Octavo sheets includes the text “N.M.Ltd.” for Newton Mill Ltd., as the company had become known by the ’50s. If I had to guess, I’d hazard it may possibly date back as far as that decade, or perhaps from the following one. The reminder slip mentions a choice of two paper sizes and two colours; whereas some promotional material from the ’30s mentions half a dozen sizes and a wider variety of shades.

At some point during the ’70s the Club was dropped from the brand name, which, eventually, also became the company name: Waldorf Stationery & Greeting Cards Ltd. To my mind, the Waldorf stationery from this later period lacks the charm of their earlier production.