Robert Louis Stevenson and the Roycrofters

I like this piece for the history found in the world of books, writing, and printing. This is a motto card, or credo card, produced by the Roycroft Shop in East Aurora, New York. These small, collectable cards were popular during the early 20th century as inspirational keepsakes.

The Roycrofters were a community of artists and craftspeople founded in 1895 by Elbert Hubbard in East Aurora, NY and played a significant role in the American Arts and Crafts Movement. The motto card here is representative of their craftsmanship—letterpress printing on handmade rag paper, rough-textured and deckle-edged.

Robert Louis Stevenson and the Quote: Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was a highly celebrated Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist, famous for classics like Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This quote for the Roycrofter piece is taken from his essay titled Lay Morals, which he began writing in 1879. He died before finishing it and it was published posthumously in 1911 in a collection of his writing titled Lay Morals and Other Papers (London: Chatto & Windus).

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