What Pens Did/do Famous Writers Use?

[pdc13]

Could any of you identify the pen, Thomas Mann holds in his hand?

It seems, he writes with white ink(?) on a black piece of paper???

The shape and proportion of the pen appear to be consistent with some Parkers from that time, while I have seen this variant of the clip. From what I've read there are many variations, from country to country, year to year and model names. As a result, there is much confusion in this regard. So coming up with an exact (correct) model name would be difficult.

 

I wonder if Thomas Mann always wrote with white ink on black paper.

 

EDIT: This picture was probably taken around the time he was living in the United States.

Edited April 8, 2014 by pdc13

[pdc13]

i wish i could tell you i downloaded the photo from the article. However, the resolution is to low to be able to see what logo is on the clip.

 

----EDIT----

 

oops that is the lever for the filler shown. I think i may drop either marketing or educational contact a line at the royal society and see if they have any more information on the pen.

Now that I think about it. I have seen pens like this before. I think it's a Waterman Ideal 52?

[Sarandipity]

I believe Stephen King uses a Waterman.

 

He went back to using fountain pens after his accident.

 

Sarandipity

[montserratplay]

I believe he counts as a famous writer. (And just in case you're wondering, the gentleman doesn't necessarily reflect all of my politics, nor am I getting political with my post.)

 

But on a recent episode of the Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew podcast, Adam extolled the virtues of spending a tiny bit more on a pen to get a decent writing experience. Now, he meant springing a tiny bit more to get a better disposable gel pen or rollerball. But then he mentioned that Dennis Prager is a big fan of fountain pens. (Mr. Prager's preference has been noted in passing in FPN before; I thought I would add new information.) My impression from Mr. Carolla's commentary is that Mr. Prager is a fairly big fountain pen proponent. Perhaps an FPN member will ask him about it at a book signing or another public personal appearance.

 

Were I a richer gent, I might send Adam and/or Dr. Drew a fountain pen to try and get them hooked. Alas, I'm not a richer gent. And I think both of those men are a little too busy to bother with a fountain pen, though they may enjoy a cartridge pen.

[Gloucesterman]

Wayne Dyer writes with pencils!

[Pickwick]

The shape and proportion of the pen appear to be consistent with some Parkers from that time, while I have seen this variant of the clip. From what I've read there are many variations, from country to country, year to year and model names. As a result, there is much confusion in this regard. So coming up with an exact (correct) model name would be difficult.

 

I wonder if Thomas Mann always wrote with white ink on black paper.

 

EDIT: This picture was probably taken around the time he was living in the United States.

Looks as though he's editing a stencil. These were negatives which were put on an offset printing machine.

[pdc13]

This excerpt:

 

"... Plath used a Schaeffer fountain pen, Nabokov a Montblanc (when he wasn't using pencil), Mark Twain a Conklin. Hemingway is connected with Montegrappa, Montblanc, Esterbrook, though he preferred pencil, and his weapon of choice is still debated by enthusiasts:

 

http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/assets_c/2012/04/hemmingway-guns-pens-thumb-500x121-3659.png

 

...was taken from this article:

 

http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2012/04/swann-announces-vintage-writing-instruments-dept.phtml

 

You may also notice that the above screenshot fragment was taken from this very thread! LOL!! (See post #7)

Edited May 10, 2014 by pdc13

[canibanoglu]

Proust (my favorite author by far) seems to have use Sergeant-Major nibs attached to pen holders. Now I'm not quite sure if these are dip pens, but it appears that he wasn't using fountain pens. Kinda makes me want to buy some of the nibs but I know I wouldn't use them.

 

Source: http://mleddy.blogspot.com.tr/2009/06/prousts-supplies.html

[CaptainDan]

He isn't exactly a famous writer, but former President of France Francois Mitterrand was noted for carrying multiple Waterman Le Man 100s with him at all times.

[KAC]

R. Crumb uses old Strathmore vellum surface paper mailed from the New York Central Art Supply in New York to his current home in France with Pelican black ink and a dip pen with a steel nib.

 

James Joyce (according to a quote attributed to Shakespeare and Company (Paris bookseller and original publisher of "Ulysses") Paris bookshop owner Silvia Beach used blunt black pencils purchased at Smith's in Paris in different colors to distinguish which parts of a book he was working on. Supposedly, he had difficulties with fountain pens.

Edited May 10, 2014 by KAC

[Guernseytim]

Sir Winston Churchill has been said to have used De La Rue Onoto pens, plus Conway Stewarts.

[Freddy]

Harlan Ellison in his own words.....

 

http://harlanellison.com/buzz/bw146h.htm

 

 

Fred

[Freddy]

excuse the double post

 

Fred

Edited May 11, 2014 by Freddy

[BHK]

Most of the writers I've known have trouble affording particular fountain pens. The process seems particular to most every writer. Hemingway appeared to shoot for about 500 words a day, but apparently there's a fair amount of his mss. in typescript. His writing by hand was by and large done standing, and there are pictures of his special desk and him standing at it. A.R. Ammons, a very fine poet, did a lot of his work on the typewriter, and one of his books, Tape for the Turn of The Year, was done on a roll of adding-machine tape. Many of the writers who went to University of Iowa and other writing programs tended to pop back and forth between handwritten and typewritten drafts; to some extent, it may be a function of the workshop method.

 

Richard Hugo, a fine poet and occasion novelist, suggested that writers should do initial drafts in cheapo notebooks using number-two pencils. Mark Twain, famous for use of the Crescent Filler, was an avid technophile, and it was likely he worked occasionally on typewriters. I believe that handwritten and typed drafts draw on different parts of the brain, and enable you to look at text differently, and even to think about the structure of the sentences and the text differently overall. There may be some advantage to switching back and forth between the two.

 

Some techniques are pretty hard to use unless you're working with anything other than a pen. I think that automatic writing, for example, is almost impossible to do on a computer or, for that matter, with a pencil. I find that there's a bit of an advantage in using a good fountain pen in producing automatic writing, even over a ball point because — for me, at least — there's a significantly more intimate connection with the paper.

 

If you look at Balzac, his practice was to literally to chain himself to his desk and to pour out an original draft in pen and ink with a dip pen in long-hand, pretty much jazzed out of his gourd on constant cups of coffee, which were brought to him by his valet. Balzac liked to dress for the occasion every night by dressing up in a silk-lined monk's habit. Typically, he would write a first draft for one of his novels in ten days to three weeks. It would come back from the printer, typeset, and he would essentially completely re-write the thing. His copies of typescript would often be utterly scribbled over, to the point where they would be almost unreadable; and the cost of resetting them in type would almost completely eat up whatever profits he made. I doubt that he would understand the changes that he needed to make, however, until he actually saw what his original draft looked like in print.

 

My theory, of course.

 

Any of course everybody really should have a favorite fountain pen or ten.

 

I simply have a terrible time understanding how anybody could winnow their fountain pen lust down to one. The only solution I can imagine to resolving that issue is to keep buying more fountain pens until I find the fountain pen that is clearly the fountain pen for me.

 

How have you folks managed?

 

 

BHK

[Mags]

Oh like you have suggested I have over invested in my fountain pens in search of the perfect one. I favourited a Targa and a Viisconti Opera LE but lately the Pelikan 1000 is getting picked up frequently too. I am not sure I could use just one but I may be able to get to my top 10 eventually.

 

As for famous folks a fair number of people likely used the humble Esterbrooks desk pens or J or LJ as they were so common and affordable.

[montserratplay]

Robert Olen Butler is a Pulitzer-winning author. The gentleman shared a holograph from his novel "Hell" with Narrative Magazine and the journal sent the image around.

 

https://twitter.com/NarrativeMag/status/477844193981628417/photo/1

 

I noticed that the writing looked as though it had been done with a fountain pen and asked Narrative if they had any pen info. Mr. Butler responded thus in a tweet:

 

"the pen is a 1930s Pelikan tortoise shell with a flexible nib"

 

https://twitter.com/RobtOlenButler/status/478189975188803584

[Notgatherox]

Putin seemed to have signed the Crimean treaty with this pen. Montblanc 149 isn't it? Who can recognize the pen?

http://i2.mail.com/818/2721818,h=425,pd=1,w=620/vladimir-putin.jpg

 

 

Looks like a 146 to me, the 149 is a bigger pen IIRC.

 

 

~Epic

[GTOZack]

camera makes it looks huge its probably a 149 I tried to justify whichever 146 or 149 by holding my 146 and 149 I am leaning toward 149

[Estott]

Not fountain pen related, but...an 1870's visitor to british novelist Mrs. J. H. Riddell (quite a fine writer, especially her ghost stories) noted that her inkstand was a teacup half full of ink with half a dozen quill pens laid across a saucer.

[georges zaslavsky]

French Writer Colette used a Parker Duofold Mandarin and some Mbs. The Queen used a Parker 51.