Pens owned by famous people

[Bill_D]

Does anyone own a pen that was once used by a famous person? What's the story behind it? I have never seen one for sale. I suppose authentication would be difficult.

 

If you could own a pen used by someone famous, who would it be and would you use the pen? I would pick a pen owned by William Faulker and, yes, I would use it, though sparingly.

[ConnallMac]

I would choose a pen owned by Robert Heinlein. A great author and humanist.

 

 

--J. Haney

[parker]

erm, i would choose a pen owned by John Lennon.

 

(and by Agatha Christie, J. K. Rowling and by J. R. R. Tolkien if the first choice isnt available)

 

John Lennon's pen i prolly would use it just to try how it feels to hold the same pen

 

(Agatha Christie's and the rest of my choices i prolly would use occasionally....or just bring one with me to get inspired....)

[BillTheEditor]

William Sydney Porter ("O.Henry"). When I was a student at the University of Texas, I worked for a time in the University Archives. There wasn't a regular desk available for me, so I was assigned to an old rolltop desk back in the corner of the stacks. It had come in with a collection of an author's papers and the Chief Archivist really didn't know what to do with it. He mentioned in passing, "Oh, by the way, try not to spill anything on the desk -- it was O.Henry's."

 

I've wanted some O.Henry memorabilia, especially a pen, ever since. However, whatever stuff was left at his death went to his daughter, who died unmarried and childless a few years later. All of his effects seem to be in various museums, archives, and university collections and libraries now, so my ambition to own one of those pens (probably a dip pen, at best a Conklin, or more realistically probably just a pencil) will probably never be fulfilled.

 

Although I admire O.Henry and find constant inspiration in the story of how he became a famous writer (he wrote his way out of bankruptcy), I do not want to spend time in prison or expire the way he did (cirhosis of the liver, drank himself to death nine years after he was released from the federal pen in Ohio).

[Velma]

I would be curious about the pens Anais Nin and Louisa May Alcott used. But I don't think I'd want to own/use them; I'm beginning to get into having nibs modified for my tastes, and that doesn't feel appropriate for a pen bought because it had belonged to someone else.

Edited August 12, 2006 by Velma

[mike1]

An Eisenhower Parker "51" would be nice to have. What did Truman use?

Edited August 12, 2006 by mike1

[BillTheEditor]

Listening to Studio 360 on NPR this afternoon, maybe I should add to O.Henry's pen, a pen that belonged to L. Frank Baum (The Wizard of Oz).

 

Kurt Andersen describes Baum this way: "Baum failed at everything but writing the books that made him famous - the Wizard of Oz and its umpteen sequels."

 

My history certainly matches Baum's on the first part of that description. Maybe the pen would help me with the second part.

[Sidney]

I've thought about this all day and I can't come up with just one person. So, the pen for me would be my grandfather's.

[MichaelD]

A pen I would treasure is C.S. Lewis. I enjoy his writings on the Christain faith.

 

Michael

[krz]

James Thurber's pen would be nice.

[Guest]

I'd love Elliot Ness' and Al Capone's

 

Angelo

[221bbakerst]

I didn't even have to think about this one. There is no hope at all of ever realizing this one but I would like to have a pen that Sir Winston Churchill used. Most Americans don't realize the debt we owe him.

[Lemur]

Albert Einsteins pen.

But I would not use it.

 

There are some photographs of him with a fountain pen, and it look like a Pelikan.

Do anyone know if it was a Pelikan or MB he used (ore some other brand)?

 

Regards

Ingmar

[Ray Roewert]

I'd love a pen owned by Hermann Hesse.

[kaisede]

John Nash, I actually met him at a game theory conference. And Leo Tolstoy.

 

 

Andy

[Johnny Appleseed]

I would love to find the Prince's Protean pen that Mark Twain threw out a window in frustration. Not only a pen he wrote with, but one he swore at.

 

John

[Demonstrative Pen Collector]

I would love to lay hands on the pen(or quill?) used by Edgar Allan Poe, Guy De Maupassant(wrong spelling I think), President Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, Rommel, Pontius Pilate, Mc Arthur, Mahatma Gandhi, Da Vinci and John Milton (Tis better to reign in hell than serve in Heaven!!!) Ahh..I can only dream

[kissing]

William Shakespeare's Quill

[pen tom]

Albert Einstein.

M. Ghandi

I like the Winston Churchill idea that appeared earlier as well as John Lennon.

[cmeisenzahl]

Great thread idea!

 

Off the top of my head:

 

Churchill

An American WWII general

Twain

Chesterton

Tolkien

CS Lewis

Any Pope