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This site was created by a small group of fountain pens enthusiasts, as a virtual notebook where to collect and share information about pens. The site based on the MediaWiki software, the same used by the far more famous WikiPedia. The license used for all the site contents (for more information see Project:Copyright) is the GFDL, the same license used by WikiPedia. This means that the information you find on this site is available to anyone and can be reused freely, with the only condition that this freedom must be maintained: this simply means that whether you use the content of this site on your work, that one must also remain free and be released under the same license.

Fountain pen history

Although the begin of writing instruments history is lost in the mists of time, the fountain pen has no more than two centuries. Although there are traces of reservoir pens up from the tenth century BC, when the sultan of Egypt commissioned a pen that should not make stains on hands and clothes (which is still continues to happen) and was brought a pen with a tank, forerunner of modern fountain pens. But the first examples at least partially functioning fountain pens are dating approximately to the half of 1800, and only at the beginning of last century the fountain pens has actually become a reliable writing instrument.

For many centuries in fact the main writing instrument was the goose pen, until the use of metal nibs began to spread in mid of nineteenth century. Although they were an important innovation, metal nibs presented the inconvenience of the need of a continuous ink retip. For this reason, in the era of the industrial revolution, people began almost immediately to try to equip the nibs of some form of tank to solve this problem. These first attempts, however, always worked in an occasional and poor reliability.

Therefore, despite the existence of various precursors many people set the date of birth of the modern fountain pen in 1883, when Lewis Edson Waterman, with the invention multichannel feeder, began the development of what is considered the first truly functional and reliable pen. This is only a partial truth, because many other working fountain pens were produced at that time, but is true that was a very important improvement.

Since then the fountain pen experienced a period of great improvements, in the materials, int the filling systems, and also in style and design. In particular the period between the '20s and '50s is considered to be the golden age of fountain pens. Starting from the '60s, with the pervasive diffusion of the ballpen, the use of fountain pens has been decreasing, but it's knowing a new peak of interest in recent years, because the fountain pens had the characteristic of being a very personal object, capable to give uniqueness and distinction to every people writing.

How to use a fountain pen

The working principle of a fountain pen is related to a complex balance of different forces that make possible that just the light pressure of nib on the paper can make the ink reach the sheet from the reservoir, without leaking when the pen is not used.

How to handle a fountain pen

A fountain pen should not be used in vertical position, but the nib should be put on the paper so that the lower tip of the nib smears on it. The great advantage of a fountain pen over a ballpoint pen or a roller (that must be used vertically) is that this kind of use allows you to write using very different writing angles, while taking an hand position that is much more natural (you just let the pen go between thumb and index). In addition, the fingers (held between thumb and index, using the medium as an additional point of support) must be used to move the pen when writing, and not to hold it.

Finally, a properly functioning fountain pen does not require any pressure to write, the weight of the pen must be sufficient to start writing. The use of pressure can be used instead to open more or less (depending on its flexibility) the tines of the nib, allowing you to vary the tract size, and thus having a writing result that is a lot more personal.

All these characteristics make writing with a fountain pen much more convenient and comfortable than with any other type of pen, allowing much longer and less laborious writing sessions. For these reasons, even today, despite the presence of so many alternative technologies, the fountain pen is considered by people that do a lot of writing (writers, amateurs, enthusiasts) as the best tool to write and draw marks on a sheet of paper.

List of historical brands

The following is a list (strictly in alphabetical order) of the main historical brands of fountain pens. In recent years, driven by the return of attention to this writing instrument, there has been a flourishing of new companies, and also the "resurrection" of some historical brands that were closed long time ago.

Here are listed only those brands which are between the main historical producers of fountain pens, and that were present on the market from before the '50s. To open a section on recent productions all interested people are invited to contribute.

Ancora Aikin Lambert Aurora Stylo Bayard Carter Ink Company Chilton & Crocker Columbus Conklin Conway-Stewart A. T. Cross Company Dunn Diamond Eclipse Edacoto Esterbrook Faber-Castell & Osmia Gold Starry Kaweco John Holland Gold Pen Company Lamy LeBoeuf Mallat Météore Montblanc Gmbh Morrison

Morton Moore Montegrappa OMAS - Officine Meccaniche Armando Simoni Onoto Parker Pen Company Pelikan Platinum Pilot Pen Corporation Rotring Radius Sailor Pens Sheaffer Pen Co. Soennecken Stylomine Swan Mabie Todd Pens Tabo Tibaldi Tropen Uniq Wahl Eversharp A. A. Waterman L. E. Waterman Company Wearever Wirt

References

• Fishler, George - Schneider, Stuart (1992). Fountain Pens and Pencils. New York: Shiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-887-40346-8;
• Lambrou, Andreas (2003). Fountain Pens of the World. New York: Philip Wilson Publisher. ISBN 0-302-00668-0;
• Bowen, Glen Benton (1996). Collectible Fountain Pens. L-W Publishing & Book Sales. ISBN 0910173001;

External links

All links and references concerning restoration, repairs, and all the technical aspects regarding the recovery of vintage fountain pens have been moved to a dedicated page: Repair.

This web link collection started from the one taken from WikiPedia, but was expanded adding what was found on the Internet. Obviously further references to resources that are not already been reported here are welcome, just let us kno:

• Fountain pen page of Wikipedia The fountain pen page on the english section of WikiPedia.
• Fountain Pen Network Forums for thematic discussions on fountain pens.
• PenHero Excellent website, with many historical informations, articles and galleries. Beautiful photos.
• Fountain Pen Restoration Excellent site of a restorer, with beautiful photos, and a lot of historical information, as well as techniques.
• Richard Binder • Fountain Pens Excellent website of a repairer of pens, with very detailed technical information, and interesting writings on various models. Wonderful technical articles on nibs.
• The Vintage Pens Website David Nishimura website, with plenty of interesting information ons on antique fountain pens.
• Penciclopedia A website similar to the previous one, but concentrated on American producers. Excellent source for smaller manufacturers.
• Parker Pens A website dedicated to Parker but with plenty of other informations.
• Penexchange Some articles and informations, and forums for German collectors. Hosted and maintained by Pelikan.
• Pen Lovers A website containing many interesting articles by Jim Mamoulides and several galleries with photos of pens and advertising.
• Le stylo Francais Excellent resource for the historic French brands.
• Kamakura Pens The website of an Ebay seller, with many interesting informations on Japanese fountain pens.
• Penoply Good website maintained by Rick Conner, with many historical information, technical guidelines and various materials, of great interest.
• Penspotters Another website of the same author of the previous, with many historical information, various materials, of great interest.
• Lion & Pen Website with a lot of information, articles and forums.
• Glenn's Pen Page Personal website of Glenn Marcus, contains many reviews, both pens and shops, oriented on modern pens.
• Pen Collectors of America the Pen Collectors of America association website.
• Parker 51 A lot of information on the more widespread fountain pen
• Easterbrook for the "Esties" lovers
• JetPens Forums Forum from a shop Japanese pens with some information on pens produced in Asia.
• Vacumania David Isaacson website with a lot of information, particularly on Vacumatic
• Openions A site of pen reviews, form modern pens
• Pen and Co It was a very good resource for French brands with historical information and beautiful photos, but now is unreadable because of the flash animations.

Acknowledgements

We thanks the people of Casa della Stilografica an historical florentine writing instrument shop, specialized on fountain pen. For more than 50 years it has been a collector and enthusiasts gathering place, and here is where the idea of this site was born.

Many thanks to Truelite Srl for the hosting of the pages on their server.