What Pens Did/do Famous Writers Use?

[Corona688]

and J.R.R Tolkien dip pen

http://brandonvogt.com/wp-content/uploads/23-Tolkien-pen-575x429.jpg

 

from http://brandonvogt.com/tolkiens-desk-lewis-pen/ which documents the Lewis collection at Wheaton.

The nib he used was an Esterbrook 314, which makes sense chronologically and fits the photo.

[Corona688]

Kerouac banged out On The Road on a Hermes typewriter..continuous roll of paper which he taped together. I'd be curious to know which pens he used, if any..I wonder are some writers pen-users and others typewriter users, as in 2 different camps?

Back when he still worked reputably L Ron Hubbard wrote incessantly on a typewriter. He'd feed in whole rolls of fish paper beginning-to-end.

[sansenri]

"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"

 

Montegrappa presumably started in 1912 in Bassano del Grappa (north east Italy).

Shortly after its birth the company finds itself in a critical location as WWI breaks out.

Bassano was a military strategically important place due to is geogrphical position.

Montegrappa, at the time named Elmo (Helmet) produces particularly sturdy safety pens which are used by the armed forces.

Among soldiers using the Elmo pens to write home, both Ernest Hemingway e John Dos Passos, who at the time (1918) were war reporters, and volonteers in the ambulance service, used these pens.

 

Heminway, volonteered in the crocerossa when in Bassano del Grappa in 1918, and visited the Elmo pen factory.

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by sansenri

[sansenri]

interesting to note that in the leaflet the numbers on the right preceded by the letter L. are very likely the selling costs, so 25 to 80 Lira

 

an exchange rate site, that has historical data, says that in 1917 7 Lira were equivalent to 1 dollar.

 

 

Montegrappa has recently (2016) dedicated a pen series to Hemingway

and named them Soldier (Soldato), Writer (Scrittore), Fisherman (Pescatore), Traveller (Viaggiatore)

 

an expensive LE series, with an average cost of 1500-2000 euro per pen.

Edited April 24, 2018 by sansenri

[Arstook]

interesting to note that in the leaflet the numbers on the right preceded by the letter L. are very likely the selling costs, so 25 to 80 Lira

 

an exchange rate site, that has historical data, says that in 1917 7 Lira were equivalent to 1 dollar.

 

 

Montegrappa has recently (2016) dedicated a pen series to Hemingway

and named them Soldier (Soldato), Writer (Scrittore), Fisherman (Pescatore), Traveller (Viaggiatore)

 

an expensive LE series, with an average cost of 1500-2000 euro per pen.

 

According to an online inflation calculator, that makes the Elmo Pens, which ranged from 25 to 80 Lira, approximately $75.89 to $242.86 USD in 2018. Not bad. I wish I could find a Montegrappa for that price now!

Edited May 22, 2018 by Arstook

[sandy101]

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

 

Hemmingway endorsed Parker. There's an advertisement in Life Magazine (Jan 26 1948 inside cover) with a quotation from him being used to sell the Parker 51.

 

I'm not sure how much he used them, but may well have switched or endorsed Montegrappa at some point too.

 

Here's a link to the issue (Google books has a searchable archive of every issue).

 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p0gEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Life+January+1948&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXlrSGtKrbAhWkJ8AKHalGCEAQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=Life%20January%201948&f=true

Edited May 29, 2018 by sandy101

[Arstook]

 

Hemmingway endorsed Parker. There's an advertisement in Life Magazine (Jan 26 1948 inside cover) with a quotation from him being used to sell the Parker 51.

 

I'm not sure how much he used them, but may well have switched or endorsed Montegrappa at some point too.

 

Here's a link to the issue (Google books has a searchable archive of every issue).

 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p0gEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Life+January+1948&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXlrSGtKrbAhWkJ8AKHalGCEAQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=Life%20January%201948&f=true

 

I don't think Hemingway ever formally endorsed Montegrappa or was a devoted user of the brand. He may have purchased a pen or two from the company, back when it was known as Elmo, when he was serving as an ambulance driver on the Italian front during WWI. The company was based in an extremely strategic area of Italy where the Italians dug in after the catastrophic defeat at the battle of Caporetto which Hemingway I think, witnessed in person and recounted in his book, Farewell to Arms.

[sandy101]

E M Forster used a Parker 51. I just saw a documentary where he was waving one around. 

 

I did a google search, and he mentions in a letter To Joe Ackerley in 1947 from the USA: ‘the view from the window is the Californian desert, mistaken by me for the Nevadan ... we seem to have reached Nevada after all ... my Parker 51 ink is checked in my grip for Chicago.’

 

I also found a picture.

 

https://lithub.com/on-the-slyly-subversive-writing-of-e-m-forster/

[LapsangS]

Stalin had Pelikan

[Sigyn_Sharpe]

I recently watched the film Colette 2018 on Netflix and I noticed that there was something different about the pen used for the writing scenes. The pen used was in some ways a dip pen and in others a fountain pen. The pen was made of metal, the pen had a lid covering the nib, and to my eye, the nib was a permanent fixture and therefore unable to be switched out. Yet the writer used the pen, that to all appearances looked like a fountain pen, as a dip pen with an ink well and everything. I have attached a photo as well as the trailer for the film and at 25 seconds into the trailer (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqdyyk-iOvY) you see the pen in question. Does anyone know what type of pen this is and if it is available to purchase? I am at an utter loss as to how even to search to see if this pen exists as I don’t even know it’s proper name. 

8F65E426-99AE-4B8E-8473-35D0A95A1215.webp

[sandy101]

It's a dip pen, not a fountain pen.

[shalitha33]

15 hours ago, Sigyn_Sharpe said:

The pen used was in some ways a dip pen and in others a fountain pen. The pen was made of metal, the pen had a lid covering the nib, and to my eye, the nib was a permanent fixture and therefore unable to be switched out. Yet the writer used the pen, that to all appearances looked like a fountain pen, as a dip pen with an ink well and everything. 

I'm no expert on the matter, so could be wrong. It looks like a retractable nib dip pen and pencil combo. Unfortunately this is not something i collect so don't have an example to show. Closest I have are these.



In this pen you would use the ring in the middle to retract and extend the nib , it works by just pushing it up or down.



To replace the nib you would extend it all the way out 



Pencil in this one is operated by rotating the back end 


 
One on the video looks like it has the pencil on the other end .Pencil may be operated by the ring that's in the middle of the pen , although this is just a guess. I have no clue what the model of this pen is. Some one who knows more can add a bit more detail. 

If you are after a pen  have a look at vintage brands such as Mabie Todd, Leeroy W Fairchild or John Foley. Have a look at PCA 

1875 John Foley catalog from PCA (https://pencollectorsofamerica.org/reference-library/d-o/) 
Direct link to the pdf: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19bzCqsqS27lLxE9eyaNTXzbv_rCkGaTU/view

Mabie Todd catalog from PCA (https://pencollectorsofamerica.org/reference-library/mabie-todd/)
Direct link to pdf: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bt4wXk2_1kkfPKpPwVTFXAWx1yTWLyaD/view
 

[sandy101]

Marcel Proust's manuscripts are on exhibition in Paris. He wrote in fountain pen, in bed apparently. Doesn't say which pen he used, but here's a picture from his manuscript, courtesy of The Guardian newspaper. 

 

In search of lost toast: Paris show reveals origins of Proust’s madeleines | Marcel Proust | The Guardian

 

[Barry Gabay]

On 9/22/2022 at 4:33 PM, Sigyn_Sharpe said:

There is a photo of Colette at her desk. Actually just her hand, pen, paper, a part of her desk, & attentive cat appear in the photo. It is in the book "Plumes & En-Tetes" Pens and Letterhead, the catalogue of an exhibit at the Paris Postal Museum in 1990s. I didn't attend the exhibit but am fortunate to own a copy of the catalogue.  Colette wrote with a 1920s unposted senior Parker Duofold. From the black & white photo, it appears to be either a Big Red or Mandarin.  An adjoining photo shows Andre Malraux, novelist & later Minister of Culture, writing with a fountain pen I can not identify. 

 

 

 

[dwattsjr]

Colette was known to have a strong penchant for her Parker Duofold Mandarin. She is pictured holding the pen on page 48 of Fountain Pens History and Design (edited by Giorgio Dragoni and Giuseppe Fichera; Antique Collector's Club; 1998) ....

 

 

...

 

 

 

[nigelg]

Spike Milligan used a PFM. It came up for auction at Bonhams several years ago. There are several posts about it here on FPN.

[rodia77]

Ken Follet's announcement from yesterday -- a take on the pen's ID, anyone?

 

 

And in Neil Gaiman's intro to his Smoke and Mirrors I read that he was "writing this introduction in blue-black fountain pen ink in a black-bound notebook, in case you were wondering" -- no specifics, though.

[VacNut]

I am told MacArthur used a Duofold to sign the armistice in Japan. 

There were several European Armistice but the museum holds the Eisenhower 51 Set and a Sheaffer. No discussion on what type of pen was used by the Germans.

 

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/parker-pens-ended-world-war-ii

 

Parker made personal pens for Eisenhower during his presidency.

 

[Armo]

Expanding on EM Forster, here is an article with a pic about halfway down of him holding his fountain pen. It appears that if it's a P51, which I am happy to accept, then the clip has broken off and been replaced with a clip-on one. There are always P51 for sale on eBay with clips that have broken so it's quite probable.

 

https://www.tatler.com/article/the-real-story-behind-my-policeman-and-the-heartbreaking-complexity-of-em-forsters-most-defining-relationship

[inkstainedruth]

@rodia77 -- A few years ago, someone on FPN (I don't remember who, offhand) took his kid to some SF con and I think that Neil Gaiman autographed some book for the kid but with the father's FP!

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth