The pleasure of fountain pens.

[Bisquitlips]

I found this on the web and kept a copy. This just about says what needs to be said about the pleasure associated with writing with a fountain pen.

The pleasure of using a fountain pen must be experienced to be appreciated. Unlike ball*points and their kin, fountain pens glide effort*less*ly across the page because they don’t need to be pushed down to make them work. In fact, they don’t even like being pushed down — a fountain pen glides across the paper on a thin lubricating film of liquid ink, the way an ice skate glides over the ice on a film of water melted by the pressure of the skate blade. Sheaffer even used this com*parison in its advertising.

Cradle a fountain pen in your hand, don’t clutch it for dear life. A gentler grip means less stress; you won’t tire out or get writer’s cramp. When I was in elementary school, the teacher would walk around the classroom while we were doing our penmanship exercises, from time to time leaning over a shoulder to snatch a pupil’s pen backward. If your pen did not come away with virtually no resistance, you were clenching it too tightly.

Using a fountain pen the right way is a sensual experience; you can feel the paper. You can control the way the ink is applied and with the right nib even influence the line variations and the shades of the ink in each letter. Why would you ever write with anything else.


An ink review to exhibit shading: (not mine).







Some Victorian Penmanship:




When writing was valued as a joy: