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1762 Fountain Pen

Belles-lettres

By Belles-lettres
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Belles-lettres Mint

Belles-lettres

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Posted

ITEM #28698 June 3, 1762

The Pennsylvania Gazette

 

Imported in the last Vessels from London, and sold by DAVID HALL, At the New Printing Office in Market street,

Philadelphia, A LARGE and well chosen Assortment of Paper Hangings. Writing Paper of all Sorts, by the Ream, or lesser

Quantity; embossed and marbled Paper; English Pasteboard, Parchment, Quills, Pens, Sealing Wax and Wafers; neat Cases of

Pocket Instruments; Scales and Dividers; Slates and Slate Pencils; Penknives; …Black Lead Pencils, Fountain Pens, &c.&c.

 

 

 

 

 

Will those more knowledgeable please explain this mention of fountain pens in Philadelphia in 1762?

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

first fountain pen: student Sheaffer, 1956

next fountain pen: Montblanc 146 circa 1990

favourite ink: Noodler's Zhivago

favourite pen: Waterman No. 12

most beautiful pen: Conway Stewart 84 red with gold veins, oh goodness gracious

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Belles-lettres Mint

Belles-lettres

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Indeed, it is from Gary's web site, may he rest in peace.

 

I went to the source and there are no images, it is a text advertisement.

 

Anyone any thoughts?

first fountain pen: student Sheaffer, 1956

next fountain pen: Montblanc 146 circa 1990

favourite ink: Noodler's Zhivago

favourite pen: Waterman No. 12

most beautiful pen: Conway Stewart 84 red with gold veins, oh goodness gracious

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Scrawler Antique

Scrawler

Posted
Posted

Indeed, it is from Gary's web site, may he rest in peace.

 

I went to the source and there are no images, it is a text advertisement.

 

Anyone any thoughts?

No thoughts, just fascinated interest. I would like to see images of more old papers online. I have learned quite a bit about some early 20th century pens from images of newspapers that have been digitized. Many of these really early papers only exist in single fragile copies and they will be lost forever if they are not digitized.

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jar Ancient Artifact

jar

Posted
Posted

Sure. At that time there were fountain pens and holders. The term pen or fountain pen was used for what we would call a nib.

 

 

 

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Belles-lettres Mint

Belles-lettres

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Sure. At that time there were fountain pens and holders. The term pen or fountain pen was used for what we would call a nib.

 

Thanks - but I've never seen a reference to a metallic nib this early except for rare references in artists' materials... clearly this is for general merchandise.

first fountain pen: student Sheaffer, 1956

next fountain pen: Montblanc 146 circa 1990

favourite ink: Noodler's Zhivago

favourite pen: Waterman No. 12

most beautiful pen: Conway Stewart 84 red with gold veins, oh goodness gracious

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jar Ancient Artifact

jar

Posted
Posted

Sure. At that time there were fountain pens and holders. The term pen or fountain pen was used for what we would call a nib.

 

Thanks - but I've never seen a reference to a metallic nib this early except for rare references in artists' materials... clearly this is for general merchandise.

 

And it does mention quills, pens and fountain pens. It says that they came in from England on the latest ship and so the place to look would likely be the UK of the period.

 

 

 

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rwilsonedn Antique

rwilsonedn

Posted
Posted

According to a lecture before the Society of Arts (pinned in this forum, I think) there are written references to steel pens in the UK as early as 1733. I suppose it is possible that an early use of the phrase "fountain pen" could have referred to pens and pen-holders provided with an ink well--what we would call a desk pen set now. Another speculation is that the date attribution on the ad is simply wrong.

ron

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Vintagepens Collectors Item

Vintagepens

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Most likely the reference was indeed to a reservoir pen, of the type famously described by Nicholas Bion.

 

"Fountain pen" was a term applied to nibs furnished with an ink-trapping device, allowing for longer writing per dip, but I do believe it was a term of the 19th century and not of the 18th.

David Nishimura

 

www.vintagepens.com

vintagepensblog.blogspot.com

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rhr Extremely Rare

rhr

Posted
Posted (edited)

David is right, the reference is probably to fountain pens of the Bion type. The steel nibs with reservoir tips didn't come along until the 1830s to the 1860s, and they are sometimes confusingly called "fountain pens" in the patents.

 

And by the way, there are 107 issues of the Pennsylvania Gazette between 1742 and 1768 with ads that use the word "fountain pen" 15 times, and the word "fountain pens" 115 times, so it was not an uncommon writing instrument by that time. It just wasn't that dependable and popular, yet.

 

Here are a couple of websites with which to search the Gazette.

 

http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/newspapers/explore/USA/Pennsylvania/Philadelphia/Pennsylvania_Gazette/

http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/the-pennsylvania-gazette/

 

George Kovalenko.

 

:ninja:

Edited by rhr

rhrpen(at)gmail.com

 

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