Ian Fleming's Fountain Pen

[soapytwist]

I am afraid I do not know the answer to the question, what I do know is that Chitty Chitty Bang bang scared me for life!!!

I remember being taken to see it in i think 1968/9 and to this day (I am 45 now) I cannot watch past the child catcher, he still sends cold shivers up and down my spine!

Even worse: you were scared for life by an Australian ballet dancer!

[RLTodd]

......regard to the fountain pen question...Ian Fleming was an journalist in London in the 1930s who began writing political-spy thrillers. In most photographs, he is posed with his typewriter, never a fountain pen. Hence, most of his work, I believe was done on his favorite typewriter from his little outpost home Goldeneye in Jamaica.

........

 

That makes the most sense. Just about every one who wrote for a living abandoned pencils and pens the minute they could get their hands on a typewriter. If one generates words for a living it was just a matter of survival. Same thing happened when the word processors became economically feasible later on and replaced the typewriter.

 

 

[donwinn]

......regard to the fountain pen question...Ian Fleming was an journalist in London in the 1930s who began writing political-spy thrillers. In most photographs, he is posed with his typewriter, never a fountain pen. Hence, most of his work, I believe was done on his favorite typewriter from his little outpost home Goldeneye in Jamaica.

........

 

That makes the most sense. Just about every one who wrote for a living abandoned pencils and pens the minute they could get their hands on a typewriter. If one generates words for a living it was just a matter of survival. Same thing happened when the word processors became economically feasible later on and replaced the typewriter.

 

That being said, the late Rousas J Rushdooney, author of several rather large books, including a 3-volume Systematic Theology, wrote all his manuscripts by hand, with a fountain pen, up until his death in 2001. I actually was privileged to hear him speak at the Christian Home Educators Association of California (CHEA) Convention in 1997, and persuaded him to autograph a copy of his The Messanic Character of American Education. When I proffered the book and asked for his autograph, he queried whether I had a pen. When I offered a fountain pen, he twisted the cap clockwise, then noting it spun freely, pulled the cap off, and remarked, upon looking a the nib, "A fine writing instrument; no one uses these anymore". I keep in locked in a treasure box.

 

Donnie

 

[Johnny Appleseed]

......regard to the fountain pen question...Ian Fleming was an journalist in London in the 1930s who began writing political-spy thrillers. In most photographs, he is posed with his typewriter, never a fountain pen. Hence, most of his work, I believe was done on his favorite typewriter from his little outpost home Goldeneye in Jamaica.

........

 

That makes the most sense. Just about every one who wrote for a living abandoned pencils and pens the minute they could get their hands on a typewriter. If one generates words for a living it was just a matter of survival. Same thing happened when the word processors became economically feasible later on and replaced the typewriter.

 

That is not necessarily true. We have had a number of writers on this board who write for a living and many will hand-write the first drafts of their work. There are novelists out there who do most of their writing with pen and paper, at least the first draft (Neil Stephenson and J.K. Rowling jump immediately to mind). I think a survey of writers would bring out a surprising number who handwrite much of their work - not the majority, perhaps, but a surprising percentage. Also, I think a lot writers do initial work (outlining, journaling, notes, scene sketches) by hand, even if they end up doing initial drafts on a typewriter or word processor.

 

But it is also true that many writers from the late-19th century to the advent of the word processor did use a typewriter. FP enthusiasts often assume that anyone writing before the computer age used a fountain pen, and forget that typewriter thing. . .

 

And, of course, Ian Fleming was likely to have carried and used a pen, even if he did most of his writing on a typewriter.

 

John

[Titivillus]

I am afraid I do not know the answer to the question, what I do know is that Chitty Chitty Bang bang scared me for life!!!

I remember being taken to see it in i think 1968/9 and to this day (I am 45 now) I cannot watch past the child catcher, he still sends cold shivers up and down my spine!

 

 

Same with my wife. She refuses to watch the movie. I sort of remember that there is a brownie recipe in the back of the book.

 

 

K

[publius]

Same with my wife. She refuses to watch the movie. I sort of remember that there is a brownie recipe in the back of the book.

 

 

K

Fudge, actually.

 

[Titivillus]

Same with my wife. She refuses to watch the movie. I sort of remember that there is a brownie recipe in the back of the book.

 

 

K

Fudge, actually.

 

 

Knew it was something chocolate and in squares!

 

K

[dogpoet]

......regard to the fountain pen question...Ian Fleming was an journalist in London in the 1930s who began writing political-spy thrillers. In most photographs, he is posed with his typewriter, never a fountain pen. Hence, most of his work, I believe was done on his favorite typewriter from his little outpost home Goldeneye in Jamaica.

........

 

That makes the most sense. Just about every one who wrote for a living abandoned pencils and pens the minute they could get their hands on a typewriter. If one generates words for a living it was just a matter of survival. Same thing happened when the word processors became economically feasible later on and replaced the typewriter.

There were a few who refused to type, even after Huck Finn appeared: there's a nice story about Dorothy L Sayers' publisher sending her a letter suggesting that perhaps she should buy a typewriter, to which she replied that it would be a lot cheaper to change publishers.

[orangesam]

There has been a Ian Fleming related exhibition at the Imperial War Museum recently, and I don't recall seeing a fountain pen in the showcases.

 

I'll have a look through the book tomorrow. I'm sure a British journalist/ author must have used a FP at some stage.

 

Its just a question as to whether he was loyal to a brand...

[dogpoet]

If he wrote Bond as using Mountblancs, probably he had a taste for those himself: the early novels often come across as consumer guides as much as thrillers, don't they?

[orangesam]

I like the idea that Fleming used Dunhill being a British brand.

 

And on a personal note I own a Dunhill Ltd Edt FP which is number 007/250.

 

So maybe I should start to write spy thrillers!

[ex-bugonaut]

Apropos of this discussion, I thought I'd quote Mr. Fleming:

 

"I spent the afternoon walking the length of the Ginza, window-shopping and wondering, as I do whenever I walk down a great shopping street, who buys all the cameras, sunglasses, wrist-watches, and fountain pens that seem to infest the world. But I hate taking photographs, and, having taken them, hate looking at them, and since I already possess a wrist-watch and a fountain pen, my purchases were confined to one dramatic Kabuki print of a man being beheaded."

 

-- Thrilling Cities, 1965 Signet edition, p.54

[Bruce Bailey]

1953 Royal Quiet Deluxe Gold portable typewriter that was a limited edition model. Ian Flemings Typewriter that was like this sold for $89,144 By Christie’s Auction in May 1995. The auctioneer’s estimate had been $7995-$12,792. Fleming had paid $174 for it in 1952.

 

I don't think he could have used a pen as he always seemed to have a cigarette in his hand.

 

"Art thou a pen, whose task shall be To drown in ink What writers think? Oh, wisely write, That pages white Be not the worse for ink and thee."Ethel Lynn Beers

[LeonW]

Great topic.

[Flippy]

I'm surprised any fan of Fleming's didn't already know this!

 

Actually if you read the story, as I did for my kids many years ago, you will find several references that could have been to Bond or Fleming himself.

IKR!