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What Pens Did/do Famous Writers Use?


Brian C

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I cant see an Esterbrook in Denise Bellon- Monde Artistique's photo of Simone de Beauvoir in el fiore, but obviously

She holds an Esterbrook in the small photo at right ( Ondina's photos ) you can see there the jewell in the cap's top

an the unconfundible straight clip.

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Thanks, penrivers. I might open a thread on the Esterbrook forum to inquire about the European presence of that quintessential American pen.

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I know they were quite popular over here during the '50s and '60s as the nibs were very good for southpaws. Doesn't look like that was the issue for Simone de Beauvoir, though...

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Neil Gaiman is starting a new book, and just picked up two Cleo Skribents, one "Classic" and one "Colour," both purchased by his fianceé in exchange for a "hot party dress." See here: http://twitter.com/#!/amandapalmer/status/1407920457650177

Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.

Currently writing with:

Twisbi Diamond 530 filled with Iroshizuku Syo-Ro

Charcoal Lamy Safari (F) filled with Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun

Blue Lamy Al-Star (M) filled with Noodler's X-Feather

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I guess the Esterbrooks were popular in France in the 50's. I found some French Esterbrook posters, declaring "Choissez parmi plus de 28 Pointes." (Choose from among more than 28 nibs!)Of course, this poster could be for French Canada...

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  • 1 month later...

Dan Brown uses a crayon. He isn't allowed sharp instruments that might put an eye out, you see.

 

:ltcapd:

 

:roflmho:

"Here was a man who had said, with his wan smile, that once he realized that he would never be a protagonist, he decided to become, instead, an intelligent spectator, for there was no point in writing without serious motivation." - Casaubon referring to Belbo, Foucault's Pendulum.

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Dan Brown uses a crayon. He isn't allowed sharp instruments that might put an eye out, you see.

 

bahahahahahh :roflmho: :clap1::ltcapd:

Science is a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.

-Carl Sagan

http://mark.intervex.net/fpn/images/LetterExchange_sm.pnghttp://mark.intervex.net/fpn/images/PostcardExchange_sm.pnghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qVJOiluU9_4/THp4f_4pakI/AAAAAAAAA14/_d-MITGtqvY/s320/InkDropLogoFPN2.jpg

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There's a photograph in A.E. Hotchner's Papa Hemingway of Hemingway writing with a Parker 51. (Hotchner notes on the photo that Hemingway wrote fiction standing up, and checks sitting down.)

 

As a side note, I've also seen a photo of Mary Hemingway (wife no.4) writing with what looked like a Sheaffer Crest mechanical pencil while she and Hemingway were on safari in Africa.

 

Both James Baldwin and Allen Ginsberg have bits in their writing about refilling their fountain pens before beginning to write. Baldwin in an essay written during his time in Paris in the late 40s/early 50s, and Ginsberg in one of his later poems. I've seen photos of Ginsberg with a pocket full of pens, but never could identify any of them. (As I remember, it looked like a mix of possible FPs, cheap BPs and felt tips...)

 

Speaking of poets, there's a short bit about Jack Spicer borrowing Joanne Kyger's "scratchy fountain pen" to write a poem while staying at her house. (Recounted in the biography of Spicer, Poet Be Like God.) Must've been a pretty cheap fountain pen to be so scratchy... :P

"Here was a man who had said, with his wan smile, that once he realized that he would never be a protagonist, he decided to become, instead, an intelligent spectator, for there was no point in writing without serious motivation." - Casaubon referring to Belbo, Foucault's Pendulum.

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pretty sure ginsberg used a parker 51. there's tons of footage on you tube that show ginsberg with numerous different 51's.

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pretty sure ginsberg used a parker 51. there's tons of footage on you tube that show ginsberg with numerous different 51's.

 

I've seen those, but I've also seen the one with him and Kerouac at City Lights bookstore and it appears he has a simple Bic Crystal in his pocket.

 

Ginzy was big on spontaneous writing, so I'd assume he'd have a back up ballpoint, just in case his FP was out of ink or clogged. Though, of course, he could simply have a couple extra FPs on hand. ;)

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John le Carre: I've seen pictures of him holding what looks like a modern black Duofold ballpoint or rollerball.

 

Czeslaw Milosz (Polish poet, 1911 - 2004, Nobel Prize 1980): I've seen a late picture of him where he seems to be addressing an envelope, and he's using a black, cigar-shaped FP, but I can't tell what it is. It looks sort of like a 149, but it's not - it has a gold ring at the bottom of the section. I've always wondered what it is: vintage? an obscure Eastern European brand?

Current line-up: Pelikan M805 (EF), Aurora 88 (F), Parker Duofold (F), Delta Titanio (F)

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Orhan Pamuk, Nobel prize laureate, uses a fountain pen for his writing, or so I read somewhere. I would like to know which one.

 

From art of fiction no 187

 

"When I’m traveling, and not alone at my desk, after a while I get depressed. I’m happy when I’m alone in a room and inventing. More than a commitment to the art or to the craft, which I am devoted to, it is a commitment to being alone in a room. I continue to have this ritual, believing that what I am doing now will one day be published, legitimizing my daydreams. I need solitary hours at a desk with good paper and a fountain pen like some people need a pill for their health."

 

I have seen the photo of Pamuk with Parker Duofold Amber in his hands.

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Well, it's not a fountain pen, but somewhere I have a photo of William S. Burroughs doing a book signing with what distinctly looks like a Fisher AG-7 Space Pen. You can see the retractor button on the side very distinctly. (If I could find the book, I'd scan and post.)

 

I seem to remember seeing photos of some of Kerouac's pocket notepads, where he wrote some his poetry. If I remember rightly, this was mostly in pencil and/or ballpoint. (In marked contrast to his "jam a roll of paper into the typewriter" style of composing his novels.)

"Here was a man who had said, with his wan smile, that once he realized that he would never be a protagonist, he decided to become, instead, an intelligent spectator, for there was no point in writing without serious motivation." - Casaubon referring to Belbo, Foucault's Pendulum.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was just reading an old (1999) interview with Mary Gordon. Some of it is worth quoting:

 

"Writing by hand is laborious, and that is why typewriters were invented. But I believe that the labor has virtue, because of its very physicality. For one thing it involves flesh, blood, and the thingness of pen and paper, and those anchors that remind us that, however thoroughly we lose ourselves in the vortex of our invention, we inhabit a corporeal world. . . . My pen is a Waterman, black enamel with a trim of gold. . . . My ink is Waterman's black. Once while traveling I could only find blue-black. I used it for a few weeks, but it made me feel like a punitive headmistress. . . . I chose a fine [nib]; there was something about its resistance, the hint of a scratch, the brief reluctance to move on to the next thing that provided the taste of austerity and discretion I seemed . . . to be after."

Current line-up: Pelikan M805 (EF), Aurora 88 (F), Parker Duofold (F), Delta Titanio (F)

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Albert Einstein i believe used a pelikan not sure of the model i think it is a 100 but not sure.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hermann Hesse wrote with an Osmia Supra, which he sent in for rapair in 1930. When he got the pen back he wrote: "Herzlichen Dank für die reparierte Feder! Leider ist sie etwas gröber geworden, früher hat sie haarfein geschrieben. Aber ich selbst bin ja auch nicht mehr, was ich einst war, so will ich gern zufrieden sein."

 

Joachim Ringelnatz wrote a poem for his Montblanc: "Mir ist um mein Gepäck nicht bang./ Ich trage, was ich besitze,/ Novellen, Gedichte und Witze,/ Im Füllfederhalter von Montblanc."

 

Cheers!

 

Armin

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