Why a fountain pen has long-lasting appeal

[Richard Roman]

All hail the firgotten fountain pen - from the letters page of the daily Telegraph

SIR – When did I last see someone using a fountain pen (Letters, May 9)? Yesterday. As a registrar of births, deaths and marriages, I am legally required to do so, using registrar's ink, which as I remind our informants, never fades.

We have records going back to the start of civil registration in 1837, and every word is still perfectly legible.

Lucinda Henderson
Stourbridge, Worcestershire

SIR – My husband uses a fountain pen to write up his wine-tasting notes – I won the pen in one of The Daily Telegraph's crossword competitions. He loves using it, as it improves his handwriting.

Michele Platman
Birmingham

SIR – At my children's prep school all pupils from eight to 13 years are forbidden from writing with anything else. Furthermore, they stand up when an adult enters their classroom, address their teachers as Sir or Miss and still say grace before each meal.

Mobiles are prohibited and Facebook is blocked on the school intranet. What more could a mother of teenage twins wish for?

Kirsty Blunt
Sedgeford, Norfolk

SIR – I use a fountain pen all the time, as my writing with a Biro is illegible. I only resort to Biros when addressing envelopes in case the ink runs in wet weather.

I suppose one could use indelible ink, but I would never get it off my fingers.

Virginia Snow
Taunton, Somerset

SIR – At my aromatherapy practice, I use my trusty Parker fountain pen to write up my patients' notes in italic long hand.

Pat Frampton
Farnham, Surrey

SIR – I hope Patricia Essex is managing to keep up her supply of turquoise ink (Letters, May 9). I started using brown ink in my Parker fountain pen in 1970, but it became increasingly difficult to come by.

However, I managed to build up stocks of three brands, each of a somewhat different hue – one British, two German – which I expect to outlast my need for them.

Neville Teller
London N13

SIR – I use a fountain pen to write cards and letters, and have just completed 70 place settings for a Rotary charter night dinner.

However, I need to use a pencil with a rubber on the end to do The Daily Telegraph crossword.

Vanessa Chalmers
Skipton, North Yorkshire

SIR – When I joined the Army, officers were expected to sign all correspondence using a fountain pen as a sign of mutual respect, not unlike the principle behind saluting. Most of us still do.

Mike Huntley
Salisbury, Wiltshire

SIR – I write the initial composition of my letters to the Editor in fountain pen, before sending them by email.

John Holmes
Crookham, Hampshire

[Christine Lidster]

Is it possible to get fountain pens wih permanent ink? It's been a long time since I used ink.

When I think about writing with ink I think about taking more care with how I write, my actual handwriting which brings me back to Richard's comment on giving full attention to the point of contact between pen nib and paper. This brings a number of things to my mind... taking care with handwriting generally, Tai Chi, focussing on tasks at hand, and living in the moment.

[CCF Beijing]

Fountain pens.

Yes.

I think one can becomes more eloquent when using a fountain pen... much the same as one behaves more refined when wearing formal attire....

[Richard Roman]

Christine - it was an interesting exercise. We all had calligraphy boards (and calligraphy pens) and were asked to give our full attention to where the working surfaces met. - i.e. where the nib of the pen touched the paper and to give our full attention to that point

It is remarkable how it helps to calm the mind down!

Good luck with all those kids though!

[Christine Lidster]

Richard... creating a perfect O with precision and calmness... mmm... I volunteer in a Kindergarten at my local Primary school presently. The teacher is expected to have multiple activities running at the same time with groups of up to 6 children moving from one activity to the next at roughly 15 minute intervals. She put me at the handwriting activity where I worked with 4 waves of little ones. Their worksheet consisted of the alphabet A to Z in both dotted capitals and lower case as well as numbers 1 to 9. The pace was frenetic, anything but calm as I tried to get around all of them to show them the starting points and directions so as to create the letters and numbers correctly. What an utter luxury it would have been had I been able to sit with one child and quietly and calmly go through each letter and number, so that they understood well how to create them.  

[Richard Roman]

Christine - fully understand. Also, I spent a few years practicing calligraphy (not very good). The precision and calmness of trying to create a perfect O was one of the most soothing things one can do. Equally, writing a well crafted letter to a girlfriend was of a different order!

[Christine Lidster]

Please don't misunderstand me when I use the word 'sensual'. It's NOT the same as the other word that starts with 's'. I first used ink and ink pens when I was in Primary school. There was a hole in the top right hand corner of our wooden desk into which a little ink well sat. The ink pens which were long, pointed at the end and made of plastic were dipped into the ink as needed. I LOVED writing in ink. There was something really sensual about it.

[Richard Roman]

I think you formulate your thought more precisely when using a good fountain pen

[Jack Field]

Concur. The style and grace inherent within the noble fountain pen is inimitable. Gentlemen, it is said, are judged by three things, the quality of thier speech, the quality of thier watch, the quality of their pen. I, at least, have the pen.

[CCF Beijing]

Agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY. Letter and the fountain pens that create them- a dying art.

E-mails and text messages tend to be brief, in broken English (or abbreviations)

like: c u later, ttyl, LMAO...AND ARE EASILY DELETED WITH THE PUSH OF A BUTTON!