I used to write a lot. Then I wrote on occasion. Then I wrote only when needed. The number of pens I have has nothing to do with the number of words I commit to paper. This doesn’t stop me, however, from accumulating more pens, for many reasons that have almost nothing to do with writing. …
I didn’t really want one, but I saw Caloy’s. Damn. The M101N in brown tortoiseshell is a replica of a Pelikan model from 1937. I want to lick the tortoiseshell celluloid. All right, I won’t. Like mother-of-pearl blended with Bakelite, the surface has a subtle shimmer over pesto and pistachio green, with streaks of dark …
Demonstrator pens are blatant about what they do, and how they do it. In the Obviousness Sweepstakes nothing comes close to the Pelikan M1005 demonstrator. The M1000 is the largest in the Pelikan range. The “5” refers to the white trim (palladium-plated in this case). Ink fetishists with poor impulse control should not bring this …
One of my favorite commercials of all time is Anthony Hopkins doing the big boy thing for Barclays Bank. If the copywriter had decided to include a line about signing a big contract with a big pen, and if the big client did not insist on a big English pen (in which case this entry …
Three years ago, I didn’t even know oblique nibs existed. Oblique nibs are cut at an angle, rather than straight across like an italic or stub, or rounded like most nibs. There are left-foot and right-foot obliques. I have a old Pelikan M400 with a left-foot OBB nib, an oblique double broad. I’m told that …
After Mass, we passed by HMR. The self-styled “surplus haus” boasted banners in summer colors, and streamers with huge “70% off” headlines in watermelon red. HMR usually has computers, audio and video equipment, legacy parts and supplies (when was the last time you saw dot-matrix printer paper, or 128 MB thumb drives?), and furniture. The …