National Stationery Show starts Sunday

Next Sunday, May 21, is the start of this year's National Stationery Show in New York City. The show is expected to bring more than 750 exhibitors and more than 10,000 industry professionals. The NSS caters to buyers and sellers of specialty paper products – from greeting cards, custom invitations, announcements, gift wrap, calendars, and journals, to lifestyle gifts, such as candles, toys, personal care, travel gadgets and more.

To some, "stationery" means only "writing paper," but the definition really covers so much more. According to a number of online dictionaries and other sources, the word comes from the use of the word "stationer" in the Middle Ages to describe a bookdealer who sold books and papers. "Stationer" was used because such shops were in a fixed -- stationary -- location, as opposed to the traveling peddlers that were more common at the time. As most of the stationary shops were located near universities, the term "stationer" came to refer to the specific type of shop that sold books and other paper products.

So, at one time, the words "stationary" and "stationery" were directly related. Nowadays, we use "stationary" to refer to something that is not moving and "stationery" for papers, pens and other writing products.

If you have the privilege of visiting the National Stationery Show this year, you'll have a chance to visit some of the booths of the shop owners featured in the NSS "Stationery Stories" section of the website. You can click over there now and read about how Mary Billings, owner of Love of Character, Wichita, Kansas, turned her dreams into reality or how Jocelyn Kirouac, co-owner of Ümlaut Brooklyn, remarried her first husband, Roland Kirouac, two decades after their divorce and started a greeting card company. There are more stories at the NSS site!