Stationers’ Company Liveryman celebrates 600 years of stationery in landmark book

Print Solutions

Christopher Leonard-Morgan’s ‘Stationery Icons’ brings together 100 brands and makers, with contributions from the Stationers’ Company and a foreword by Theo Paphitis.

Stationery Icons, a richly illustrated, 304 page hardback by Christopher Leonard-Morgan, celebrates the people, ideas and businesses behind the tools we use to write, draw, work and create.

Published by Narrative Media and available as a limited first edition, the book traces 600 years of stationery history through 100 brands and makers, exploring how familiar objects became enduring companions in classrooms, studios, offices and homes.

For members of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, the publication has a particular connection. Christopher Leonard-Morgan is a Liveryman of the Company, whose contribution to the book extends beyond its association with the author: the Stationers’ Company supported its development, contributed to its content and features within its pages.

That involvement brings an institutional perspective to a book concerned with both the history and the continuing relevance of stationery. Alongside the stories of individual makers, it recognises the organisations and communities that have sustained the trades of writing, printing and publishing.

He is founder of the London Stationery Show and National Stationery Week, and draws on his extensive industry experience and relationships to bring together stories often held separately in company archives, private collections and personal memories. His involvement with the Stationers’ Company adds a further connection between the industry’s heritage and the people shaping its future.

With a foreword by Theo Paphitis, Stationery Icons examines the design, invention, craftsmanship and commercial ambition behind products that have become part of everyday life. It considers why particular tools endure, how manufacturers build trust across generations, and why the physical act of putting pen, pencil or pastel to paper continues to matter.

The book combines historical research with photography and visual storytelling. Readers can discover the origins of familiar brands, explore lesser known makers and see everyday objects in the context of the cultural and industrial changes that shaped them.

For Narrative Media, the publication brings an often overlooked subject into the world of collector quality illustrated books. Its audience includes stationery enthusiasts, collectors, designers and readers interested in material culture, as well as bookshops, specialist retailers and institutions.

The connection with the Stationers’ Company also makes it a particularly relevant addition to members’ libraries and a distinctive gift for colleagues, clients and others with an interest in the industries the Company represents.

Stationery Icons is available at stationeryicons.com