A small paper booklet containing cardboard matches with a striking surface, often used as advertising by restaurants and businesses.
Compound of 'match' (from Old French 'meche') and 'book' (from Old English 'boc'). The matchbook as an object was invented in the 1890s and immediately became ubiquitous; the word itself solidified in the early 1900s.
Matchbooks were the original advertising genius—free, pocket-sized, and necessary, so every business gave them away with their name, and now vintage matchbook collections tell the history of which restaurants, hotels, and bars actually existed in old cities.
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