What is a Dip-Less ink well? Does the matching pen take ink or have a cartridge.

A dip less ink well is an Esterbrook pen holder which has a place for an ink resevoir. The pen that goes with it is not a cartridge OR lever fill. It takes regular Estie pen points but they screw into a holder without a lever. The pen holder holds the pen in the ink when the pen in in place.

Yep. ANM is correct. I'll add that ink is drawn into the nib by capillary action. Also, at one time Esterbrook did make nibs specifically for dip-less pens (i.e., the 5000 and 7000 series nibs), which were not integrated with the feed. They stopped making those at some point, however. In any case, any of the Renew nibs can be used with a dip-less nib holder.

Did they also have a desk set that was just a base with a lever fill pen?

yes they did. The slang is eight ball for the lever filler base and hockey puck for the dipless. Take a look at the Pendemonium.com website under Esterbrook for some pictures/ examples of both styles.

Kurt