There have been a number of articles in the press lately about fountain pens; mainly people singing their praises. It all started with a letter to the Telegraph (where else?) asking if anyone still used them. This prompted a number of rousing testimonials in their favour in the pages of the same newspaper. Further research by a bored journalist or two suggest that sales are increasing year on year as people buy pens both as presents and as small luxury items.
Reading all this makes me feel like something of a trend setter; not something I'm entirely comfortable with given I'm a dedicated Telegraph reader (we don't really do change). As I have mentioned, I have written with a fountain pen since I was about 12 and have no intention of changing any time soon.
I have however bought a couple of new pens. Neither are anything ground-breaking but both were reasonably priced which means I am happy to take them into the office and let them suffer the abuse that is office life. My current pen picked up a small dent from either being in my pocket or my bag causing the thread to slightly loosen on the barrel. Net result; there's cosmetic damage and it can disassemble in my pocket. The first was genuinely heartbreaking since I've had that pen for over ten years and used it in all my major exams and for all important correspondence. The latter is unfortunate because it has lead to ink stains on some brand new shirts (thank you Prof. Google for providing instructions oh how to remove them). The new pens were bought because I didn't want to sacrifice the pleasure of writing with a decent pen day-to-day but equally, I don't want to risk damaging something which I genuinely treasure.
I was chatting to my dad about these articles as he is also a devotee of fountain pens. In fact, it's fair to say that my love of them is probably received wisdom. We have decided to get my nephew (well my cousin's sprog but it's the closest I'm going to get) a decent pen for his birthday, spurred by the fact that the headmaster of his school was quoted in one of the articles as insisting pupils wrote with a fountain pen in their formative years to try and break them into good habits. Although dad and I both write with Cross pens on a day-to-day basis and have a fondness for classic Parkers (not to mention an almost romantic love of Mont Blanc) we are erring on the side of the Lamy that has been specifically designed for kids. I had a Lamy years ago and, from what I can remember, it was a nice pen to write with. Added to that, it's designed to be fairly robust and kidproof, had a grip designed to encourage a child's hand into the proper handwriting position and has a tab in the clip where names can be written... vital! Oh and it can take a converter so it can be filled from a bottle. I don't think my cousin (or her immaculate white sofas) will thank me if I encourage this but I'm not sure I can resist!
JR
Reading all this makes me feel like something of a trend setter; not something I'm entirely comfortable with given I'm a dedicated Telegraph reader (we don't really do change). As I have mentioned, I have written with a fountain pen since I was about 12 and have no intention of changing any time soon.
I have however bought a couple of new pens. Neither are anything ground-breaking but both were reasonably priced which means I am happy to take them into the office and let them suffer the abuse that is office life. My current pen picked up a small dent from either being in my pocket or my bag causing the thread to slightly loosen on the barrel. Net result; there's cosmetic damage and it can disassemble in my pocket. The first was genuinely heartbreaking since I've had that pen for over ten years and used it in all my major exams and for all important correspondence. The latter is unfortunate because it has lead to ink stains on some brand new shirts (thank you Prof. Google for providing instructions oh how to remove them). The new pens were bought because I didn't want to sacrifice the pleasure of writing with a decent pen day-to-day but equally, I don't want to risk damaging something which I genuinely treasure.
I was chatting to my dad about these articles as he is also a devotee of fountain pens. In fact, it's fair to say that my love of them is probably received wisdom. We have decided to get my nephew (well my cousin's sprog but it's the closest I'm going to get) a decent pen for his birthday, spurred by the fact that the headmaster of his school was quoted in one of the articles as insisting pupils wrote with a fountain pen in their formative years to try and break them into good habits. Although dad and I both write with Cross pens on a day-to-day basis and have a fondness for classic Parkers (not to mention an almost romantic love of Mont Blanc) we are erring on the side of the Lamy that has been specifically designed for kids. I had a Lamy years ago and, from what I can remember, it was a nice pen to write with. Added to that, it's designed to be fairly robust and kidproof, had a grip designed to encourage a child's hand into the proper handwriting position and has a tab in the clip where names can be written... vital! Oh and it can take a converter so it can be filled from a bottle. I don't think my cousin (or her immaculate white sofas) will thank me if I encourage this but I'm not sure I can resist!
JR
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