Engraved stationery features drawing of your home

From The Wall Street Journal

Grandmother insisted on it - fine stationery, upon which she wrote, in black ink, her proper thank-yous, invitations and letters. Today, who bothers? Dinner party? Send a fax. Thank-you notes? E-mail.

But if you haven't fully pulled onto the infohighway and still think good manners go a long way, you might want to consider an understated means of telling the world you have arrived. And where.

You can still order traditional engraved stationery featuring an original drawing of your home from New York's venerable Mrs. John L. Strong Co. Another company, in San Francisco, has come up with a less-expensive alternative to project your personal Brideshead on your cards and note papers.

"House stationery really adds a very personal touch," says Joy Lewis, who now owns the Strong company, which was established in the 1930s. "People appreciate handwritten notes because it slows the pace down. It's a grace."

The engraving process can take two to three months and starts with 88-year-old artist Fred Diefenbach doing a pencil drawing of your house. From that, a steel die for engraving is made.

Ordering from the Strong company is not for the budget-conscious. Just getting the drawing and the die made can cost up to $1,500. A hundred blank cards and hand-lined envelopes cost about $165; it's another $135 to have them printed.

With costs like that, maybe modern technology does have some advantages. Blanche Kleinberg at Desk Set in San Francisco reproduces on notecards a drawing or photograph of your home using "thermography" or flat printing. A set of 100 cards and envelopes costs about $200.

You can call Desk Set at (415) 921 9575. But Grandmother would probably insist on writing Mrs. John L. Strong Co. at 699 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10021.