Since 1878, when engraver John Dempsey and businessman George Carroll decided to open a stationery store on East 14th Street, any New York party that is any New York party is likely to have been announced with a Dempsey & Carroll invitation. Providing customers with “luxury stationery as well as advice on etiquette and appropriate decorum in a variety of social settings”, the company rose to prominence with the city’s socialite scene – and it remains New York’s most illustrious stationery store.
Personalized monogrammed cards, from $430 © Dempsey & Carroll
Note cards, invitations and gift tags hand-engraved on pure cotton paper in white, ecru, gray or Dempsey blue (a deep blueberry), have since served “Katharine Hepburn, Ronald Reagan and George Steinbrenner, who owned the Yankees,” says owner Laurent Marrus. “And Tom Ford just ordered last week. I can tell he’s not shy because he put it in his movie,” she says, referring to a scene in nocturnal animals where the protagonist’s ex is shown with D&C engraved stationery.
The storefront c1900 © Dempsey & Carroll
“Our history, our heritage, our craftsmanship” is how Marrus sums up the continuing appeal of the stylish awning store, now located on Lexington Avenue. Inside, glass-fronted polished wood cabinets filled with paper and writing implements line the walls. Two writing tables and padded chairs await those who like to come and get “a simple note or a thank you card”. “They’ll sit down and write it in the store,” says Marrus. It’s a space deliberately designed not to feel too commercial. “It doesn’t look like a store; it looks like a library in an Upper East Side apartment or a nice London flat. It’s very warm.”
Ready-to-purchase products include note cards engraved with a golden frog wielding a Martini, printed with New York taxis ($65 for 10) or a single red heart ($55 for 10), and invitations wearing a golden bumblebee and, in neat print, “You’re invited to…” ($50 for 10). Thank you cards for sheepish guests who read “[…] regret his behavior […]” ($40 for 10) “are always a favorite among our customers,” says Marrus.
Love cards and envelopes, $55 for 10
New York Taxi Cards and Envelopes, $65 for 10
The back half of the store is home to ‘all colors of the rainbow’ paper samples and inks, and is where customers can design stationery, invitations or announcements. custom monogrammed. “We can meet most requests,” says Marrus casually, from painted corners to hand-painted borders, beveled edges, hand calligraphy, assembling invitations and addressing envelopes. . Her personal bespoke order consists of thick, light gray monogrammed four-ply note cards with hand painted gray edges and gray tissue paper lined envelopes.
Rooster cards and envelopes, $95 for 10 © Dempsey & Carroll
Marrus’s ability to balance traditional service with playful design (a recent note card is topped with a red rooster) has ensured the boutique’s appeal for generations. “We could have arranged your grandmother’s wedding. How can we ensure that we organize your wedding and the weddings of your children? ” she says. But success was not always there. When Marrus bought the company in 2004, it was bankrupt and plagued by the rise of digital communications. She renovated the space and opened the store on September 15, 2008 – the day Lehman Brothers collapsed. It was her idea to make business cards, and “that January was one of our biggest months,” she recalls. “A lot of people were looking for a job. So we had to move to where the market [was] growth.”
Before long, Marrus had restored the shop to its former cultural prominence. When Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer-winning novel The goldfinch was released in 2013, Dempsey & Carroll was delighted to find its stationery in the pages, in the hands of kind antique collector, Park Avenue resident Mrs. Barbour, who responds to his letters with “a line or two on his monogrammed Dempsey & Carroll note cards.” “We’re proud of that,” says Marrus with a smile.
