Carte de visite

Overview

A carte de visite (visiting card or calling card) was a small printed card bearing a person's name, and sometimes their address and title, used as an essential instrument of 19th-century social interaction. The term also referred to a popular small-format photograph (approximately 6x9 cm) mounted on card stock, invented by André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854.

Social Protocol

Visiting cards governed the elaborate ritual of social calls:
- Leaving a card: When calling on someone who was not at home, one left a card with the servant, signaling the visit
- Turning down a corner: Different corners folded indicated different purposes (condolence, congratulation, departure from the city, etc.)
- Reciprocity: Receiving a card obligated a return visit or card
- Introduction: Cards were exchanged when being formally introduced
- "p.p.c." (pour prendre congé): Written on a card left when departing a town, excusing one from formal farewell visits

Relevance to Marie

Marie orders visiting cards for her mother (1873-09-11, "cent cartes de visite pour maman") as part of routine social maintenance. The visiting card system was central to the social world Marie navigated — it determined who could call on whom, tracked social obligations, and maintained the hierarchy of acquaintance. For a family like the Bashkirtseffs, who were wealthy but lacked established position in French society, the correct use of cartes de visite was essential for social integration.

Photographic Cartes de Visite

The photographic carte de visite — a small portrait photograph on card stock — was a craze of the 1860s-1870s. People collected albums of these photographs of friends, family, celebrities, and royalty. Marie references photographic portraits in this format, and the Bashkirtseffs had their photographs taken at studios like Nadar's.

References in Diary

- 1873-09-11 (carnet 009): Ordering 100 visiting cards for Maman
- Referenced throughout as part of social protocol