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FOUNTAIN PENS & CURSIVE WRITING
“WRITE HARD, DIE FREE.” Howard Weaver.
Fountain pens are fascinating as there are no two alike. They gradually wear and adapt to one’s unique writing style for comfort. Between the nib, the weight, balance, texture, esthetics, ink colors, these are all very individual attributes which make it a very personal tool.
Cursive writing was the norm for centuries where people simply used quills generally made from goose feathers, which they sharpened into a nib. Interesting considering that only in the past hundred years do we have something as basic as a fountain pen, which few people use today. In French primary school we were made to use what was similar to what took over from the quill in 1820 which was a dip pen with a metal nib attached to a wooden handle. We also had more modern variants where you attached a nib to the handle and dipped it in a porcelain inkwell on top of the slanted school desk. Most of the nibs were rusty and I remember when I got a stainless nib it was a big deal. But for some reason we weren’t allowed till upper classes to use an actual fountain pen. Like the first one which was created in 1827 by Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru whilst studying at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. So it’s interesting that unreliable quills which had to be constantly adjusted by carving the end with a knife and dipped in ink were in use during most of the…
