Stationery

Stationery is a mass noun referring to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand or by equipment such as computer printers.

History
Originally, the term 'stationery' referred to all products sold by a stationer, whose name indicated that his book shop was on a fixed spot. This was usually somewhere near a university, and permanent, while medieval trading was mainly carried on by itinerant peddlers and others at markets and fairs. It was a unique term used between the 13th and 15th centuries in the manuscript culture. Stationers' shops were places where books were bound, copied, and published.

Letterpress
Letterpress is a process of printing several identical copies that presses words and designs onto the page. The print may be inked or blind, but is typically done in a single color. Motifs or designs may be added as many letterpress machines use movable plates that must be hand-set. Letterpress printing remained the primary method of printing until the 19th century.

Single Documents
When a single document needs to be produced, it may be handwritten or printed typically by a computer printer. Several copies of one original paper can be produced by some printers using multipart stationery. Typing with a typewriter is obsolete, having been largely superseded by preparing a document with a word processor and printing the document.

Thermographic
Thermographic printing is a process that involves several stages but can be implemented in a low-cost manufacturing process. The process involves printing the desired designs or text with an ink that remains wet, rather than drying on contact with the paper. The paper is then dusted with a powdered polymer that adheres to the ink.

The paper is vacuumed or agitated, mechanically or by hand, to remove excess powder, and then heated to near combustion. The wet ink and polymer bond and dry, resulting in a raised print surface similar to the result of an engraving process.

Embossing
Embossing is a printing technique used to create raised surfaces in the converted paper stock. The process relies upon mated dies that press the paper into a shape that can be observed on both the front and back surfaces. Two things are required during the process of embossing- a die and a stock. The result is a three-dimensional (3D) effect that emphasizes a particular area of the design.

Classifications

 * Business Stationery: Business card, letterhead, invoices, receipts
 * Desktop instruments: hole punch, stapler and staples, tapes and tape dispensers
 * Drawing instruments: brushes, colour pencils, crayons, water colour,
 * Ink and toner: Dot matrix printer's ink ribbon, Inkjet cartridge, Laser printer toner
 * Filing and storage: Expandable file, File folder, Index cards and files, Two-pocket portfolios
 * Notebooks, wirebound notebook, writing pads, college ruled paper, wide-ruled paper,
 * Office paper: dot matrix paper, inkjet printer paper, laser printer paper, photocopy paper
 * Writing instruments: ballpoint pen, fountain pen, pencil, porous point pen, rollerball pen, highlighter pen