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This is a collection of Fountain Pen Articles, Fountain Pen Histories and Fountain Pen Essays that have been published either online or in obscure books or jorunals. Things that I found while doing research on other pen topics and I thought were too good to be lost to obscurity and should be put online where a Google search could unearth them easily for the fountain pen enthusiast and fountain pen researcher.. If you know of an article that should be placed here, please let me know.
Feel free to use this information as you like, but I would appreciate a mention for the Kamakura pens site if you publish an article, or book with information gathered here. Recently, I have seen people publish pen articles exclusively from my archive with out any mention at all and that always breaks my heart.
Any Comments? Please send an e-mail to: rd@kamakurapens.com |
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Found in theHopewell Herald Sept 21, 1881
Quill Pens.
An advertisement in a morning paper
for an experienced quill pen cutter
called out an interview with the only
quill pen importer and manufacturer in
this city. .He said that twenty years
ago there were several quill pen makers
here and in other cities. Now one in
Philadelphia and himself are all that he
knows. Quill pens are used mainly by
old lawyers and judges, partly from
custom, but chiefly because they are
easy to write with. Most of the quills
come from Russia. The Russian goose
has a hardier quill than our geese. An
unclarifled pen from the wing of a Russian
goose is the most durable. The
German quills have the best plumage.
A two-dozen box of good quills will last
two or three months easily for a man
who knows how to mend his own pens,
The instrument used in pen making
is the ordinary blade of the penknife,
inserted firmly into a wooden handle of
peculiar shape. A pen is made in two
cuts or three. The blunt end of a quill
is first cut off, because it is not tough.
Then the point of the handle is inserted,
and the quill is carefully split for a certain
distance. Two slashing cuts then
form the nib, and the pen is done. The
plumage is neatly trimmed.
Swan quills are sometimes used for
pens, but are very much more expensive
than the common goose quill. Quill
pens are sold at retail for about three
shillings a dozen. The demand is
steady, but it is growing less each year