The Great Fountain Pen Race
Firstly, I would like to say a belated big 'Thank You' to all the people who in the late 1940's, early 1950's were throwing away their fountain pens, believing that the new revolutionary cheap buy and throw away, when emptied, Biro Pens, were the modern thing's of the future that didn't need to be filled with ink. This is the main reason why these generally far superior quality classic old fountain pens are rare and hard to find in perfect condition today.
Almost anyone of a certain age and tuned-in on our wavelength along with many others of a more youthful generation, will recall the virtues of a good fountain pen over that of any other mechanised form of writing instrument.
Since in these modern times virtually all forms of correspondence on paper involves no handwriting at all, sadly the know-how, the skill, the individuality and the expertise of 'writing the way it used to be' may be thought of as an acquired form of art once practised by yesteryears forgotten generation.
Recent evidence concludes otherwise, indeed quite the reverse. Increasingly since about the mid to late 1970s the revival of interest in fountain pens has been steadily expanding at an escalating rate, they have all the hallmarks that appeal having become one of the foremost of our most popular fields of functional collectible items.
Having a history dating back to the days of the quill pens used towards the end of the Roman era, usually the flight feathers of the goose were used, or such other birds as the swan, these were in common use during the fifth century long before the transitional period leading from the production in the first part of the 19th. century of steel pen nibs, to the eventual advent of the fountain pen.
From the times of the travelling scribe, the penna.(Latin for feather) surviving examples of the writing implements used vary greatly in quality of manufacture, one such example was made in Sheffield England in 1652, it can still be seen on display at the Victoria and Albert museum, it's aesthetic features include elaborate engravings of flowers and leaf patterns, the mechanical aspects include an inkwell attached to the top of a tube, which holds two or three dip pens, whilst both inkwell and tube are covered by the same attached hinged lid.
The scribe carried his writing equipment in a pocket size case, the obvious problem was that every second word to be written needed the quill to be dipped into the ink, and the quill point had to be re cut after every three or four words of writing.
The first referral to the fountain pen.
The first known reference to what we know today as a fountain pen is seen as an entry written in the diary of Samual Pepys in 1684, a celebrated English writer author who due to being related to the Earl of Sandwich, was appointed secretary to the admiralty, becoming an expert on naval administration matters, in his diary which had lain dormant for 150 years until it was unearthed acknowledged and published in 1825, he had written of a crude device invented which was designed as an ink holding reservoir attached to the quill pen, enabling a consistent ink flow to feed the quill pens point, whilst effectively a rudimentary form of a fountain pen, this did not address the problem of having to frequently re cut the writing point of the quill. Period between 1632 to 1703
These early 1900's elegant Swan eyedropper pens were made for the Ladies, having hooks on the end of the cap section enabling the chatelaine pen to be attached to a lady's dress belt suspended by a chain. The head housekeeper of a large stately mansion house such as Chatsworth House in Derbyshire England, would likely have used such a pen for her correspondence and daily note-making whilst doing her rounds of the estate
The Great Fountain Pen Race Page 2
