It may be a little early in the year, but would anyone happen to have any information on the 2008 MB writer's edition? Which author will they honor? What does it look like? I am eager to know. Thanks.

We've had two authors in consecutive years who wrote in English, so I would have to think that a French, German, Russian, or Irish author should be up next. Oh, how about a Beckett or Chekhov pen??

Looking down the list, German writers seems under-represented for a famous German manufacturer of fine writing instruments. Schiller (the only German) is also the only poet. Perhaps a Goethe? Or a Thomas Mann? I'd like to see both!

Nathan Hondros

Excellent idea, Nathan. You'd think Goethe would have been one of their first choices.

Perhaps with a Faustian theme (for either Goethe or Thomas Mann)? Well, whatever it is, I know I'm going to want one. The question is: will I sell my soul to the devil in order to afford it?

...Of course I will...

Nathan Hondros

I wonder if Goethe is not too complex or comprehensive to be done as a writer's LE. It would be like making a Hugo or maybe a Shakespeare. Bound to be controversial. Another reason for not doing Shakespeare is that he's not a novelist like the others from the writer's series.

Thomas Mann would indeed be a great idea. Herman Hesse is also a contender, particularly since he's enjoyed wide appeal in the US - which remains their main market.

PS The Alexander the Great in the Patrons series looks to me like it was designed for Goethe in the writer's series and then they got cold feet at the last minute.

I just hope that the next pen has a more interesting design, regardless of who they go for.

Hesse would be an interesting choice, actually.

Yes, fascinating. How would you pick a theme? Well, they're not really themed are they, I suppose. The Kafka made sense (the transforming shape), the Faulkner has the aircraft on the nib, but Hesse? I'm thinking of The Glass Bead Game. Very interesting.

Suggestions anyone?

Gee, for Thomas Mann, based on the "Three Penny Opera" MB might make a cheaper "Three Penny LE!" I wonder. Is that a fantasy or a plain mental breakdown?!

I think Siddhartha would offer some very interesting (and unusual) possibilities for Montblanc.

I was chatting with a salesperson at the local MB boutique a few weeks ago and he told me it would be George Bernard Shaw for 2008. I don't know about design, but it will be interesting to see what they come up with.

Well, there you go! Pygmalion it is...

I may be wrong, but in the future I believe that MB will be leaning more to $$$ when deciding on a writer to design a pen after. What sells these pens and who do they sell to. Not what writer deserves the honor more.

Their considerations are most likely to be:

Who buys our writers series pens? Americans, French, Germans, etc. Therefore the writer needs to match the buyer. If Americans purchase most of these, then I would think that writers who are well known to Americans will be chosen most often.

What is the level of recognition of the subject? The more well known, the more interest in the pen. This means well known to the common reader, not just the well read connoisseur of literature.

The reason I believe this is it is my understanding that Cervantes, Woof, and the Faulkner (among others) have not sold well. MB needs to put more thought into the era of the writer going back to the pen designs of that era and bringing those into the design. For example, the Hemingway was excellent in design as well as the Agatha. The Proust and Wilde were also desirable designs in my eye as the pen designs actually seem to fit the era of the writers. The Woolf was out of era and just too plain to interest my aesthetic appreciations. Woolf deserved a more colorful work instead of something black and rather undefined in appearance outside of its feminine shape. A good example of a well thought out pen, though not a writers series, was the Greta! Great pen in my estimation.

If they can't give a pen design to the era of the writer, then best to leave out the writer. It would be hard for MB to design a practical, refillable quill with a pocket clip. Cervantes was born in the early 16th century and I am quite sure that he didn't use a anything but a quill to pen his novels. When I first saw the MB Cervantes pen it reminded me of bamboo. Its design made no sense. I even read MBs official version defining their chosen Cervantes design. It still made no sense. My wife ordered me one for my birthday and I took it back to the shop and traded it for something not Montblanc.

The kind of things I would like see and would purchase would be something like an eye dropper for Dickinson or a lever filler for Twain, even though Twain will probably never be created by MB as Conklin has taken him on and is a popular crescent pen for them. However if MB did come out with an era pen for Twain, I would most certainly purchase it!

Montblanc has become simply weak in many of their important designs of late.

Just my 2 cents.

I've read somewhere the US is their main market for the writer's eds. with Asia catching up fast. Indeed they aim for authors with wide appeal and not necessarily within the literary circles. Jules Verne was a good example. With so few XXth century writers in the series, designing the pens to look contemporary to their namesake would be difficult. Every pen design has some more or less obvious connection to the writer, but I agree some are poor matches and I think here of the Wilde, Schiller, Dickens and Proust.

On the Virginia, I thought the feminine curves, the red jewel over black, and the waves playing with light were nice echos of the author. In handling the pen looks subtler than in pictures and is indeed more colorful than a plain black one. I agree that it is more reminding of the pens from the '50s or '60s but that's besided the point. The curve of the clip and the two textures on its surface are also a nice subtle element. I agree that the Garbo is one of their nicest modern designs... too bad they couldn't fit a piston in.

Twain would indeed make a good subject. What do you think about Jane Austen?

Thanks so much for the information on the 2008 George Bernard Shaw! I don't know him very well at all and I picture him like an English (or is it Irish?) Zola, maybe with a touch of humor. Will it be a red pen?

I suppose you could put Shaw in either the Irish or English camp - born in Dublin but lived the vast majority of his life in England. So he's one of those Anglo-Irish writers. His works are largely concerned with social issues. It's been a very long time since I've read him, so I can't really comment on the humor aspect. Shaw's a bit outside of my area of study.

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see how the design will work out. He's one of the few 19th century authors who lived long enough to make an impact on the 20th c. I tend to agree with njh1974 that Pygmalion will figure in it somehow.

I would pay pretty much anything for a Jane Austen, which isn't very Jane Austen of me, but still. Listen up, MB!

Also, may he R.I.P. - Kurt Vonnegut!

Hermann Hesse!!!!!!!!!

If it's Hermann Hesse, I will buy it.

yes, yes, yes

I would most certainly do it too!

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane...
I'd buy Twain Twain Twain Twain Twain Twain Twain Twain...

Mark Twain would be sweet!!

And what about two great italian writers as Alessandro Manzoni and Ugo Foscolo?

Or a great French one like Baudelaire?

Bye!!!

There is a light blue-grey Omas Ogiva special edition with metal cap from the late 1990's honoring Hermann Hesse; so you don't have to wait for a MB Hesse to come out :-)

Cheers

Michael

It would seem odd given how much Twain is associated with Conklin.

Mark Twain is associated with conklin, but it would still be a sweet idea. Mark Twain is the man! Why can't two companies dedicate a pen to him? MB has a Mozart, and so does Krone. Just beacuse another company has a Twain pen doesn't mean they own the guy. I doubt they will make a Twain because of conklin's "Mark Twain's Signature Collection", but I think it would be pretty cool! If they did make one I'd buy it! Again- Mark Twain is the man!!!!

What about Walt Whitman? Leaves of Grass could make for an interesting overlay motif...

Eric

Walt Whitman I think is another excellent idea! Right on!!

If we talk about Italians, why not Umberto Eco?

My vote goes to Emily Dickinson, William Blake or Federico García Lorca.

Isn't it Bernard Shaw's My Fair Lady?

Walt Whitman is a good idea for the 2008 writers edition.
And what about George Orwell?

Another great italian: Cesare Pavese.

Bye!!!

It's not just that Conklin has a Twain pen. It's that Conklin still has copies of the ads with Twain's endorsement on their site.

I might have to buy a Bill Blake being the name sake of my son.


Kurt

I sincerely wonder what an Emily Dickinson LE would look like! How does one quantify enigma?

"Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic / orders?"

How about Rainer Maria Rilke? I can imagine the nib. Heavenly.

Of Course! How perfect. Yes, he gets my vote...

Nathan Hondros

Or MB could just call it the Samuel Clemens or something

So what. They don't own the guy! Twain even said he used Conklin pens. I still think a pen made in his name would be cool. He's a great writer.

I'd like a John Donne. They could use a bell on the nibs..."ask not for whom the bell tolls"

Quite true they put out their Cervantes when Delta had the Quijote and heaven knows that Gaudi has been done by more than half a dozen pen companies.
Lets be frank if they think a Twain will sell they will make it, if they don't it on to another author.


Kurt

You guessed it right.

The rumor says it's going to be Bernard Shaw... But I have some unquenchable thirst for Mark Twain.