What Pens Did/do Famous Writers Use?

[Brian C]

Any one know what pens famous writers used? You always hear of Mark Twain and Conklins, but what about Joyce, Kerouac, Yeats, Nabokov, Mann, Hemingway or any number of greats. Kind of a real Writers Edition list.

[freewheelingvagabond]

I think I somewhere read about Agatha Christie using Conway Stewart. Not 100% sure though!

[Brian C]

I think I remember Hemingway and Montegrappa are somehow connected. Can anyone verify this?

[freewheelingvagabond]

I think I remember Hemingway and Montegrappa are somehow connected. Can anyone verify this?

 

I also read this somewhere, I think on fpn only. I think there was this other post on roughly the same thing.

[donwinn]

I read somewhere that Doyle wrote at least one Sherlock Holmes book with a Duofold.

 

Donnie

[dannyboy]

If my memory is correct, Hemingway favored Esterbrooks and love the interchangeable nibs.

[Brian C]

Knowing Hemingway's love for very expensive shotguns and rifles it's hard to see him as an Esterbrook man.

[gro]

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."

Edited September 12, 2010 by gro

[emmamartin]

As per my point of view person by person choice make different and they chose this type of pen which provides fully comfort but I want to know more about that if any have more info then serve here I appreciate for that in advance .

[penrivers]

Knowing Hemingway's love for very expensive shotguns and rifles it's hard to see him as an Esterbrook man.

In the twenties in Paris he wrote with pencils. He used to carry for them mechanical sharpeners cause with a

pocket knife you lose to much graphite and wood. Once I saw a photo of Kerouac writing with a fountain pen

I think it was a Parker 51 but I am not sure.

[Trebster]

Neil Gaiman uses fountain pens. His blog photos sometimes show one in his current rotation.

[jameswatts]

In re Hemingway and Montagrappa: Supposedly during World War I, when he was working as an ambulance driver, he spent some time in the city were the Montegrappa factory was and supposedly tested some of their pens. I know in the book "A Moveable Feast" there is a passage about him writing a story in a Paris cafe with a pencil. And I have seen photographs of him using a Parker 51.

 

Just finished reading a biography of William Somerset Maugham, who used fountain pens fitted with a special collar that weighted then toward the nib end, and he preferred black ink.

 

Peter Straub, author of "Ghost Story" among other works, has written with Visconti pens, and I read an interview with him in which he talked about visiting the Levenger store in Florida with Neil Gaimen, and the two of them thinking about "writing a novel in gray ink."

 

Stephen King has mentioned using a Waterman fountain pen -- no mention of model. Anne Tyler ("The Accidental Tourist") has been quoted as using a Parker 75. Jonathan Carroll uses fountain pens, as does Harlan Ellison (when he isn't using one of his prized manual typewriters).

[tawanda]

I'm certain the Conan Doyle - Duofold connection is true. In the new BBC series, which is set in modern London, Holmes examines an addressed envelope and comments that it was written with a Parker Duofold...

[Mickey]

I've seen a Red Duofold peeking out the pocket of Robert Fulghum's bib overalls. (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten)

[dogpoet]

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

[gro]

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

 

I found this hilarious. You gave me a real laugh.

[garnet]

Sylvia Plath used a black Shaeffer- George Borrow used a pencil or dip pen. Anne Frank used a 'no-name' German FP and I use a Lamy 2000

Edited September 19, 2010 by garnet

[Vincent1278]

I read an interview with sci-fi author Neal Stephenson and he uses fountain pens to write the first draft of his books.

[Fanshawe16]

Paul Auster writes in fountain pen. He has made reference to Auster-like protagonists using them as well, and writing in various kinds of notebooks. Most notably (ha) in Oracle Night (2003) in which a major plot point hinges on a specific kind of Portuguese notebook. Also Dylan Thomas used a Parker 51, and is pictured with it (and a cigarette and a drink) often. Mary Gordon talks about her choice of pen specifically in this NY Times Article, with a shout out to Art Brown.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/070599gordon-writing.html

[majorworks]

Jack Kerouac was, famously, a typewriter man. The "original scroll" edition of On The Road contains photos of the manuscript, which appears to bear editing marks in pencil.