Andrews/Nelson/Whitehead, importers and distributors of fine paper, based in New York.
Andrews/Nelson/Whitehead was the direct descendent of the Japan Paper Company, an enthusiastic champion of handmade paper and the book arts. Founded in 1901 in Manhattan by Richard Tracy Stevens to import tissue paper from Japan for use in teabags and Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, the company expanded to import handmade, mold-made and other high-quality papers from fifteen European and Asian countries. The JPC, later renamed Stevens-Nelson, commissioned some of the best designers and printers of the time to produce much-admired and still-treasured broadsides and sample books to promote its paper. The pinnacle of these endeavors came in 1953. Specimens: A Stevens-Nelson Paper Catalogue, with an edition of 5000 and bound 109 sample sheets produced by more than 150 designers and printers, “has never been equaled”1Walsh, Judith, The Japan Paper Company. Handpapermaking, Summer 2001, vol 16, number 1, p. 20.
In 1957 Stevens-Nelson merged with Whitehead and Alliger to become Nelson-Whitehead. In 1962, the company merged yet again to become Andrews/Nelson/Whitehead. Under Vera Freeman, vice-president of the fine paper group at A/N/W, the company offered and ever-increasing array of printmaking papers. Freeman was instrumental in the development of new products, mold-made papers in rolls and in colors as well as archival printing papers.
Ismar David designed a greeting card for Andrews/Nelson/Whitehead in 1983. He owned a copy of the 1953 Specimens.