Hand & Pen: Introduction

Fri, Dec 20, 2019
In a final act of corporate greed and vandalism, Photobucket disabled all the photos in my account, but fortunately you can still see all of them in this link in the Wayback Machine.

Most pen message boards have devolved into lonely-hearts, penpal clubs for pen collectors, so I have finally resorted to creating this pen research and history blog. And as Detective Joe Friday used to say in the TV show Dragnet, “Just the facts, ma’am”. In the specific instance of this blog, that translates to, “Just the pens, and pencils, and inks, and other writing instruments”, usually abbreviated to, “Just the pens, man”. But as Frank Dubiel used to say, “They’re just pens”, so don’t take them too seriously. Benjamin Franklin wrote that an almanac should have “a sort of gravity that keeps a due medium between dullness and nonsense, and yet has a mixture of both”. You’ve got to add a little Allegro to the Penseroso. Well, this is my almanac of sorts, a fountain pen history almanac, my beautiful game. In spite of that, let me warn you. It’s all densely worded and closely argued, and it’s not an easy read. It’s about as easy as getting to Tebaronga. The operative words here are “rubric” and “gloss” and “longueur”. Most of the stuff here suffers from being TLDR, too long didn’t read. You’ve got to be true to your code. This “meta-blog” is copyrighted under a very forgiving Creative Commons Attribution-Share-And-Share-Alike 4.0 license.

All rights reserved. Excerpts, pics, and links are allowed, provided that credit is given to George Kovalenko and
“re: Hand & Pen” with proper quotation and citation of the original content.

Sun, Apr 23, 2017

“I hold every man a debtor to his profession. As men, of course, do seek to receive countenance and profit [from a profession], so ought they, of duty, to endeavour [to give back to the profession,] to be a help and ornament thereunto, and to visit and strengthen the roots and foundations of the same, thereby not only gracing its reputation and dignity, but also amplifying it in perfection and substance.” –Francis Bacon.

Sun, Nov 29, 2015

Stephen Overbury, Mar 29, 2007. “I always regarded the person who could admire an object and truly understand it, without feeling the need to buy it, as the richest type of collector on this planet. I wish I could be like that!”

Fri, July 3, 2015

My Blog Contents Pictures Vintage Links Bibliography Contact Me
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sun, July 2, 2017

To view the images removed by ransomware, click here.

Thur, July 2, 2015

Hand & Pen

, the writing hand.

My hand holding Roger Cromwell’s Waterman’s #000 “Doll” pen and pretending to write the word “pen”,

photographed by Miroslav Tischler at the DC pen show in 2003.

        When Lion & Pen was suspended the first time, I had a bit of spare time on my hands, and I found myself playing with a possible list of new forums, but nothing came of it. The second time it was suspended, I found myself playing with the site itself, as well as the list of forums. I basically wanted to revise the whole board, but nothing came of it, and this time it was suspended for good.
        First of all, it would have needed a new image. Instead of Cross and his image of a lion-with-a-pen-in-its-mouth, the icon for the new board would have been, first of all, MacKinnon’s 1880 image of a pen-in-hand, a hand in the act of writing, or a writing hand, or a Hand Writing, and secondly, it would have been Livermore’s version of this same image of a hand writing, from later the same year. And because Francis Cashel Brown and Caw’s continued the tradition of the MacKinnon stylograph under a new name, a couple of tertiary icons would have been the images of the Caw’s ink-filler-in-hand, and the Caw’s Crow sitting atop a Caw’s ink bottle. It’s an image of ‘a crow sitting on an ink bottle with a label with an image of ‘‘a crow sitting on an ink bottle with a label with an image of ‘‘‘a crow sitting on an ink bottle with a label with an . . .’’’, &c.
        And the new name would have been something like, “Hand & Pen”, or “Pen & Hand”, or “Pen in Hand”, or “Fountain Pen History”, or “Fountain Pen & Pencil History”, or “Fountain Pen & Mechanical Pencil History”. So as an analogue of “Lion & Pen”, I settled on “Hand & Pen”. And it’s sort of based upon this Waterman’s blotter.

I preferred that name, but if I would have used it, it would have had to have been made clear from the start that it would have also included mechanical pencils. And these would have been the forums the new message board would have had.

        Introduction
            Read this first
        Fountain Pens & Mechanical Pencils
            Pen & Pencil History
            Repair and Restoration
            Buy, Sell, Trade

        That would have been it. Those forums would have been visible to everyone. Everything else, “All The Old Stuff”, would have been placed in a static forum, The Archived Forums, where a login would have been required for viewing. The big change would have been that “Introduction”, “Pen History”, “Repair and Restoration”, and “Buy, Sell, Trade” would basically have been the only public forums left. Old pens, new pens, who cares about the distinction. Everything is history. And to hell with all the rest of the forums. I can’t do anything with them. What can you do with a forum such as . . . “Chat”? Everything else would have been bunged into the Archives. The other big difference would have been that only the above four forums would have been visible to the public. The rest would have required logging in to be viewed. Nothing would have been deleted, no single posts, and no complete threads, but all the forums in the Archives would have been “Locked Topics” thereafter. Nothing would have been lost, but nothing new would have been allowed to have been added to them. All the forums would have been there for posterity, and as a document of the past version of the board, but that would have been it for “Chat”.
        So there it was, albeit cleaned up quite a bit, but of course, it was all wishful thinking and nothing came of it. However, if such a message board were to have been placed online, would you have frequented and participated in a board that looked like that? But then, instead of waiting for L&P to be revived, I created this blog to archive all my posts and threads from L&P and elsewhere on other pen message boards, and I used all of the above ideas to design this new, non-interactive website. I had also saved a static, mirrored version of the complete L&P up to May 2011, so as it turned out, the whole L&P message board was now one great big “Locked Topic”, and I got to have my way after all. End game.
        So why all the subjunctives? This is why, and here it is. Because nothing came of it. And what do the above four images have in common? They’re all Caw’s-related pictures that would have been effectively ghosted into the homepage background.
        Someone once said to me that fountain pen history was under appreciated, and was well worth the time and trouble to discover, but it was a “very tiny rain puddle” in “the flood of history”. His meaning was that, “No matter what we do, it will never amount to anything more than a tiny puddle in a seemingly limitless ocean”. In other words, it wasn’t the “true-true”. But “what is an ocean but a multitude of puddles”? And no matter how tiny, at least a puddle isn’t a fiction. So “like Solzhenitsyn, labouring at his pond in Vermont”, I shall continue “beavering away” in my tiny puddle in “exile”, and saying such things as, “Only the facts, Ma’am”.

Fri, July 3, 2015

The Hand Writing

And what do these four pics have in common?

For the answer, see below.

Three hands, two stylos, two ink bottles, two writing desks, and a crow?
Caw’s and effect.

They would have been ghosted-in as background images
here.

P.S.
And this blotter, too, is related to the top two.

Sat, July 4, 2015

Sun, June 8, 2014, Sun, Feb 28, 2016, Tue, Mar 8, 2016, and Tue, Feb 26, 2019

Books On The Shelf

, some still waiting to be printed and published.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of my research. There are about ten volumes more for every one of these binders.

But only one published volume.

Fri, July 3, 2015, and Mon, Jan 11, 2016

Bibliography

Now, here’s my bibliography. There are other fountain pen bibliographies elsewhere, such as this one, but this is my bibliography. It would have fit in my blog, but I placed it here in my meta-blog instead, for those of you who have found it, and also on wayback.

Books
, Fountain Pen Patents 1707 to 1911, or, The Early Pensmiths (The Writing Hand Press, Vol. 1, forthcoming), ~550 pp.
, Fountain Pen Patents 1911 to the 50s: An Index of The Later Pensmiths (Writing Hand Press, Vol. 2, 2006), 320 pp.
, Penmakers, A list of early North American (The Writing Hand Press, researched 2003-2016, forthcoming), ~325 pp.
, Fountain Pen Etymologies (The Writing Hand Press, researched 1993-2016, forthcoming), ~777 pp.
, The Hand Writing (The Writing Hand Press, researched 1993-2016, forthcoming), 307 pp.

Articles in magazines
, “Duncan MacKinnon”, historic documents, The Pennant, Spr-Sum 1995, pp.6-8.
, “Only In Canada, You Say?”, The Pennant, Fall 1998, pp.17-19.
, “Writing Equipment On Postage Stamps”, information from George Kovalenko, Journal of the Writing Equipment Society, no.55, July 1999, p.9.
, “The pen is mightier than the sword”, Journal of the Writing Equipment Society, no.57, Spring 2000, p.52, a double acrostic puzzle.
, “Canada Post Has Done It Again!, information from George Kovalenko”, Journal of the Writing Equipment Society, no.59, Autumn 2000, p.11.
, “An 1856 Fountain Pen”, The Pennant, Spring 2001, p.14, and Journal of the Writing Equipment Society, no.60, Spring 2001, pp.34-35, also in the Pentrace archive of “Older Stuff”, (2002).
, “Stub And Italic”, Journal of the Writing Equipment Society, no.64, 2002, pp.48-50.
, “Eureka! Online US Patent Number Searches”, Journal of the Writing Equipment Society, no.65, Autumn 2002, pp.38-39.

Articles online
On the “Penlinks” page on Bruce Marshall’s “Thelma’s Garage” website, now available only on The Wayback Machine,
http://web.archive.org/web/20130312050753/http://members.bellatlantic.net/~k1aj/penlinks.htm
, “Stylographe”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20131104210431/http://mysite.verizon.net/k1aj/plume.htm
, “An 1856 Fountain Pen”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20020405092651/http://users.primushost.com/~bruce/1856.htm
, “Stub and Italic”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20130312050753/http://www.thelmasgarage.com/stub.doc
, “Online US Patent Number Searches”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20130312050753/http://www.thelmasgarage.com/patent.doc

On the “Pentrace” homepage, pen-research-articles website, articles in the archive,
, “An 1856 Fountain Pen”,
http://www.newpentrace.net/article060101088.html
, “The Pompeian Brown Duofold”,
http://www.newpentrace.net/penbase/Data_Returns/full_articled2b8.html?id=292

On Ron Dutcher’s “Lion & Pen”, pen-research-articles website, now available only on Wayback,
http://web.archive.org/web/20100514102327/http://lionandpen.com
, “The Pompeian Brown Duofold”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20090927001353/http://www.lionandpen.com/GKovalenko/PompeianBrown.html
, “Online Patent Number Searches”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20080512021630/http://www.lionandpen.com/GKovalenko/OnlinePatents.html
, “Red And Orange Hard Rubber”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20090410130518/http://www.lionandpen.com/GKovalenko/RHR.html
, “A Fountain Pen Taxonomy”,
http://web.archive.org/web/20091126101455/http://www.lionandpen.com/GKovalenko/Taxonomy.html

Pen message board posts
As well as Zoss since 1995, Pentrace since 1999, Fountain Pen Network since 2004, and Lion & Pen since May 2005, I also participated on The Ink Spot, Penlovers, Stylophiles, FPC, acp-p, and Pen Craftsmen. I am especially proud of my threads and other posts on L&P, which tend to take the form of essays or articles on a subject, and although they are mostly textual, they have many links to images. I researched and wrote volume 1 of my patent book between 1993 and 2004, and volume 2 of the book between 2005 and 2006. Most of my articles on these boards, especially the following ones on L&P and in my blog, were written as a consequence of my patent research.

L&P threads, http://web.archive.org/http://kamakurapens.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=3
3, Vintage Pen Repair Tools, 1, the 1st Series
4, Vintage Pen Repair Tools, 2
5, Vintage Pen Repair Tools, 3
17, Vintage Pen Repair Tools, 4
26, Vintage Pen Repair Tools, 5
36, Waterman’s color-nib chart
81, Moore Tuscans
82, Canadian Orange Heat Wave, making your own frankenpen LEs
145, Hair Pencil
153, Byron’s pen
161, 45 Vacumatic
187, Pilot posters website
263, F. D. Waterman & W. I. Ferris photos?
265, Warren N. Lancaster on L. E. Waterman
271, The Word Processor
281, The Lion & Pen sign, an actual photo!
311, Snake clips
343, Waterman v. Shipman
345, The inventor of the button filler
348, Vintage Pen Repair Tools, 6
410, A Vintage Pen Repair Shop, 7
419, MacKinnon v. Cross?
[428, Waterman 13, how “scarce” are they?, Dennis Bowden’s #53 thread]
434, A Taxonomy Of The Fountain Pen
450, Kaweco pens, and A. Morton & Co. nibs
469, Aerometric fillers [lost thread, deleted by Admin = see 615 and 908]
509, US Trademarks booklet [I removed]
549, Waterman’s Plunger Filler
561, The Snorkel Vanishing Point [see after 915]
565, Modern Patent Searches 1940s-70s, the “hot-cold” method [I removed]
577, Crocker Lever Filler?
589, Button Fillers, and Twist Fillers
593, Trench Pens, and Pompeian Orange
615, Missing “Aerometric Fillers” thread [about lost thread, = see 469 and 908]
774, Pre-WWII Polish Penmaker
819, Einstein’s fountain pens
851, Ink Vending Machine, 1, the 2nd Series
855, Pen Branding Machine, 2
862, The Original Pencil Geek, 3
864, The Ma & Pa Carter Inx, 4
865, The Tempoint Nib Chart, 5
876, Making A Wahl–Eversharp Nib, 6
881, The Waterman’s Lever-Filler Demonstrator, 7
883, The Inkograph Demonstrator, 8
887, The Namiki Lever And Urushi Patents, 9
890, The Gravity Filler, 10
891, The Waterman’s Piston and Vacuum Fillers, 11
894, The Vacumatic Precursors, 12
899, The “Parker Duofold” book by Shepherd and Zazove
902, “Eliminating The Human Hand”, 13
906, The Modular Parker Fountain Pens, 14
908, Aerometric fillers = 469 restored
909, The Name “Stylograph”, 15
912, The So-Called “Fountain Pen Ballpoints”, 16
915, One Unproduced Parker “51” Design, 17
[561 bumped up with a new reply and repeated] The Snorkel Vanishing Point, 18
920, The Parker “61” Snorkel, 19
923, The First Snorkel Filler, Not A Sheaffer, 20
924, This Brings To An End This Series, 21
[957 or 958, Operation of a Rexall “Monogram” lever filler, Dennis Bowden’s thread, moved by Admin to 258]
1048, Parker Model And Style Numbers List
1161, Waterman’s pencil in 1904!
1196, Waterman’s Autograph Album
1218, Sheaffer equipment auction
1225, The “Evil” Effects Of Sulphur On Gold Alloys
1401, The Eyedropper Era, 22, the 3rd Series
1402, The First Typewriter, 23
1404, The First Pregnant Pen, 24
1407, A Writing Device For The Blind, 25
1411, The First Crescent Fillers, 26
1413, The Hand-Shaped Pencil Sharpener, 27
1417, The First Ball-Pointed Pen, 28
1420, The Telegraphic Pen, 29
1421, The “Ne Plus Ultra” Of Pens
1426, A Combined Inkstand, Pistol Case, And Burglar Alarm, 30
1427, The Tower Of Babel, 31
1430, The Ink-Transfusion Fountain Pen, 32
1433, The Over And The Under Feeds, 33
1434, The First Gravity Fillers, 34
1436, The Integral Eyedropper, 35
1437, The Pocket Inkstand, and The Traveling Inkwell, 36
1439, The Parker 45, tries to make “ugly look beautiful”
1440, The Pen Cleaner, 37
1441, The Duryea and the Beaver and Eagle Clips,
1442, The Teddy Bear Pencil Tip, 39
1443, The Fairchild Nib Sign, 40
1444, The Writing Machine, 41
1447, The Printer’s Dingbats, 42
1450, The X-Patents, 43
1469, The Parker “Arrow”
1489, Waterman’s Knockout Block Ad Plate
1500, Fountain Pen Patent Book [sales listing]
1546, Parker Jotter gel refills in rainbow colors!
1559, Waterman in Canada
1578, Diamond-pointed gold nibs
1581, The Century Inkstand, the whale inkstand
1605, The Vacumatic Book
1616, Penography and A. Morton & Co.
1623, Some of the first Hotel Pen Shows
1638, Pen Fancier’s Magazine issues wanted, and some for sale or trade
1664, Pen Collecting Timeline, the three decades of pen collecting [monster thread]
1691, Peel Pen Shop
1721, The Waterman’s Treasure Chest Box, and the Penman Co.
1725, Conklin Pen Co. and Starr Pen Co.
1812, Eberstein and the Montblanc Splat
1819, S. T. Dupont “Défi” blaapoint
1899, Getting An Eyedropper Pen To Stop Dripping, from Popular Mechanics
1927, Online US Trademark Number Searches
1928, The Trademark Era, & The Ur-Trademarks, 1, the 4th series
1929, The Carter Company Names, 2
1930, Flurries Of Activity, Pencils, 3
1931, Not On The USPTO Website, 4
1933, The Hard-Rubber-Substitutes Celluloid, Galalith, & Bakelite, 5
1934, Sanford-Ink & Wirt-Pen Hands, 6
1935, Eagle’s Eagles, 7
1936, “Ne Plus Ultra”, Again, 8
1937, Flurries Of Activity, Steel Nibs, Stylos, & Charm Pencils, 9
1938, Two Crossed Nibs, 10
1939, Esterbrook Nibs, 11
1940, The Easy Writer, 12
1944, Caw’s & Brown, 13
1946, Suns & Centuries, 14
1947, Lionpen, 15
1949, Aluminum Nibs, 16
1951, Ink Blotters & Lightning Bolts, 17
1953, The Pen Moves The World, 18
1955, Pens & Nibs, 19
1956, The Type-Writer, 20
1957, The Fasces & The Swastika, 21
1958, Quills & Inkhorns, 22
1959, Ball-Pointed Nibs, 23
1960, Pierced By A Pen, 24
1961, The Pyro Writer, 25
1962, Armeny & Marion’s “St. George”, 26
1963, The “Mercantile”, 27
1964, Copiers, 28
1965, Flurries Of Activity, Fountain Pens, And Conklin, 29
1966, Dry Ink, 30
1967, Color Images, At Last!, 31
1968, Anthropomorphic Pens, 32
1969, Orange-Red, 33
1970, The Onoto, 34
1979, Arrows, 35
1971, Mechanical Pencils In 1908, 36
1972, The Combo, 37
1973, The Thomas Ink Cat, 38
1974, The Drop Pencil, 39
1975, The Red Band, The “Mikado”, & The “Mirado”, 40
1976, The Red & Black, 41
1977, The Black & Red, 42
1978, The Word “Pensmith”, Publisher’s Devices, & Dingbats, 43
1980, GARR, Generally Accepted Research Rules
1983, Francis Cashel Brown biography
1985, Waterman’s employees
1986, Neptune Pen, so what do you think this thing is?
1993, Eversharp “Skyline” Ballpoint, a question for the Wahl specialists
1996, Trademark images, another resource
2000, The Silver Pharaoh, pen sighting in PBS documentary
2002, Another Way To Post Links To Patent Images, this time on the USPTO website
2006, Leader Self-Filler Pen
2009, Federal Trade Commission “Annual Reports”
2012, The Pompeian Brown Duofold
[Everything after April 26, 2011, was not saved in the HTTrack mirrored version.]
2021, Display Cases, and the anniversary of L&P
2022, Waterman’s wood block?
2029, Wirt obituary
2030, Lancaster ad
2032, The American Stationer, pen ads, 1, the 5th series
2033, The American Stationer, MacKinnon ad, 2
2034, The American Stationer, Waterman’s giant pens, 3
2035, The American Stationer, Onoto ad, 4
2037, The American Stationer, Waterman’s cover ads, and ink-blot stories, 5
2038, The American Stationer, Wirt ad, 6
2039, The American Stationer, Boston Pen demise, 7
2040, The American Stationer, early combo ads, 8
2041, The American Stationer, carbon-copy paper, 9
2042, The American Stationer, the word “nib”, 10
2043, The American Stationer, a Swan window display, 11
2044, The American Stationer, a Waterman’s pen film, 12
2045, Not The American Stationer, and not “an orange-colored waterman’s”, 13
2046, Waterman’s Santa, from an ad in The American Stationer, 14
2048, Waterman’s “Fasces” half-overlay, 15
2049, Laughlin Mfg. Co. reblacking pens in 1914, 16
2050, Early Sheaffer lever-filler ad, 17
2051, Sheaffer Skrip ink article, 18
2052, Sheaffer pen-demonstrating machines, 19
2054, Early Parker ads and mechanical pencils, in The American Stationer, 20
2057, Waterman’s slide lecture in 1910, 21
2058, Pendom and Pencildom, 22
2059, The original longshort pen, 23
2060, Waterman’s pen factories and buildings, 24
2062, The American Stationer volumes, the first 101 volumes, 25
2063, The Waterman’s Baseball Teams, 26
2064, The Stylographic War of 1880, 27
2065, Caw’s Ink brochure poem, 28
2066, Waterman’s Ideal pen ads, 29
2067, Early fountain pens with steel nibs, 30
2068, A. A. Waterman’s early history, 31
2069, H. M. Smith & Co., penmaker, 32
2070, The Van Valkenburg clips, 33
2071, Waterman’s “Hair Pin” fountain pen, 34
2072, Early pen collectors, 35
2073, Waterman’s Iridium, 36
2074, The Waterman’s Token, 37
2075, The Waterman’s “Signagraph”, 38
2076, The Waterman’s “Secretary”, “Check Book”, “Baby”, and “Doll” pens, 39
2077, Ink Tablet ads and patents, 40
2078, The Wirt Fountain Pen War of 1895, the third fountain pen war, 41
2080, The Waterman v. Waterman War of 1897, the fourth fountain pen war, 42
2081, The Waterman’s Globe Inks, 43
2083, Livermore in Providence
2084, Early Parker ads
2087, Essential Pen Research Tools
2088, Parker Duofold “Special” press filler
2089, The Conklin Buildings
2090, Gilliam’s “Ezerite” and “Dubel Servis”
2091, Boston Pen Co. and the Brandts
2093, Frank Dubiel
2094, Red Hard Rubber Pelikan
2095, Exposition medals received by penmakers
2096, Survival rates of vintage pens
2097, Writing Instruments at the signing of the Surrender at Appomattox
2098, Luiz Leite’s Grieshaber crescent filler
2099, Luiz Leite’s Wirt crescent filler
2100, Luiz Leite’s Brigg’s pen
2101, Luiz Leite’s RHR Indestructo pen
2102, Waterman Ads Internet Project
2103, Waterman’s First RHR Pens
2104, Waterman’s souvenir & presentation pens
2105, Goodyear’s Vulcanite Percussion Pencil
2106, Acrostic Puzzle
2107, When Did Fountain Pens First Catch On?
2108, Another Waterman War in 1918?, the fifth fountain pen war
2109, Lewis Carroll’s Writing Instruments
2110, In Days Before
2111, The Waterman’s Stylograph
2112, Links to a Canadian stationer magazine
[Endrun.]

Fri, Sept 16, 2016

Blog posts, http://fountainpenhistory.blogspot.ca
Redboard
2014 (75)
   March (11)
    1 The Waterman’s Creation Myth, Mar 14, 2014
    2 Our group photo, Mar 14, 2014
      3 The Lancaster Pen Co., Mar 16, 2014
      4 The Waterman’s Globe Inks, June 24, 26, 2012, Mar 16, 2014, June 11, 2015, June 16, 2016
      5 The Canadian necessaries, Mar 17, 2014
      6 The American necessities, Mar 21, 2014
        7 The American Stationer, Mar 1, Dec 7, 2012, Feb 10, 11, Mar 22, Dec 14, 2014, Nov 9, 2015, Aug 3, 2016
      8 Essential Pen Research Tools, Aug 22, 2012, Mar 27, 2014
      9 Generally Accepted Research Rules, GARR, Aug 10, 13, 2010, Mar 28, 2014
       10 The Mechanical Pencil Decade, Mar 30, 2014
       11 Freud’s Fountain Pen, Dec 19, 1998, Mar 31, 2014, Apr 7, 2014, Aug 7, 2015
   April (14)
       12 ‘Plume-Fontaine’, and the Stylograph, Aug 18, 1997, June, July, Fall 1998, Apr 15, 1999, Apr 2, 2014
       13 Acrostic Puzzle, Spring 2000, Apr 22, 2013, Apr 4, 2014
       14 A Canadian Stationer Magazine, July 21, 2013, Apr 6, 2014
       15 The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 10, 2013, Apr 7, 2014
       16 Penography and Penknowledgy, May 18, 2008, Apr 9, 2014
       17 The Pompeian Brown Duofold, Nov 6, 1999, 2003, Dec 6, 2005, Mar 11, 2011, Apr 10, 2014, Jan 14, 2016
       18 Francis Cashel Brown, Pt. 1, Aug 19, 2010, Apr 17, 2014
       19 Francis Cashel Brown, Pt. 2, Aug 19, 2010, Apr 19, 2014
       20 F. C. Brown in New York, April 21, 2014
       21 MacKinnon and ‘nirvana’, Feb 19, 1998, Apr 24, 2014
       22 The ‘Pen vs. Sword’ Quote, Oct 27, 1997, Mar 16, 1999, May 18, 1999, Apr 21, 2000, Apr 26, 2014
       23 New England, & Walden’s Stationer, Apr 27, 2014
   24 Geyer’s Stationer, Apr 27, 2014
       25 Waterman’s First RHR Pens, May 18, 2012, Mar 14, 2013, Apr 30, 2014
   May (7)
       26 Herbert Fisher in New York, May 4, 2014
       27 More About Waterman’s First RHR, May 12, 2014
       28 Zen and the Art of Pen Puzzles, Summer 2011, May 19, 2014
       29 Graphs of the Pen Patents, September 1993, Jan 4-Sept 12, 2001, May 24, 2014
       30 The Genealogy Tree of the Pen Family, Mar 6, 7, 10, Sept 5, 2001, May 27, 2014
       31 A Taxonomy of the Fountain Pen, Mar 30, 2002, Aug 14, 2002, Nov 5, 2005, May 29, 2014
       32 A Fountain Pen Timeline, May 31, June 4, 2014
   June (7)
   33 A Pen Collecting Timeline, Aug 28, 2008, June 9, 2014
   34 My Favorite Scribble Sheet, June 11, 2014
   35 Alan Turing’s Fountain Pen, June 13, 2014, Nov 28, Dec 1, 2014, May 23, 2016
       36 Vintage Pen Repair Tools, May 27, June 1, Sept 25, Oct 23, 2005, Sept 5, 2007, Jan 30, 2012, June 16, 2014
   37 Some Pen Research Leads, June 19, 2014
   38 Some Obscure Waterman’s Designs, June 21, 2014
       39 Einstein’s Fountain Pen, June 19, 2006, June 30, 2014, Nov 25, 2015
   July (7)
       40 ‘Frankenpens’ and ‘Squeezacs’, Feb 2005, June 19, 2014, July 7, 2014
       41 ‘Sumguy’ and ‘Banana Pen’, 1988, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, July 14, 2014
   42 Lewis Carroll’s Stylograph, June 7, 2013, July 21, 2014
       43 MacKinnon v. Cross?, Oct 26, 28, 2005, Mar 4, 2012, July 24, 2014
       44 MacKinnon v. Cross!, Mar 6, May 16-17, June 9-10, July 5, 2012, July 16, 2013, July 27, 2014, Sept 4, 2015
       45 Ravens & Writing Desks, July 29, 2014
       46 Jewelers’ Circular, July 31, 2014
   August (2)
       47 Waterman’s v. Waterman, Apr 20, June 14, 2012, Aug 7, 2014
       48 Wirt v. Wirt himself, July 5, 2007, June 1, 2012, Aug 14, Dec 17, 2014
   September (2)
       49 The Hand Writing, Sept 1, 2014
       50 Hand & Pen, Sept 30, 2014
   October (1)
       51 Caws and Effect, 2003, April 2004, Oct 30, 2014
   November (17)
       52 The Parker ‘Arrow’, Nov 21, 2000, Aug 14, 2007, Nov 1, 2014
       53 The Waterman’s #53?, July 15, 1994, Mar 17, 2004, June 8, 27, Oct 31, Nov 4, 2005, Nov 3, 2014
       54 The Waterman’s pen factories, Feb 29, 2012, Nov 7, 2014
       55 Grrr!, the opposite of GARR, July 4, 2012, Nov 8, 2014
       56 Pen Catalogues Online, Nov 9, 2014
       57 The Waterman’s ‘Fasces’ pen, Dec 26, 2011, Nov 11, 2014
       58 An 1856 Fountain Pen, July 19, 2000, Spring 2001, Nov 13, 2014
       59 Duncan MacKinnon, Nov 14, 2014, Nov 16, 2014, Jan 6, 2015, Aug 1, 11, 14, 2016
       60 The Waterman’s Jointless Pen, Nov 17, 2014
       61 An 1898 Parker ad, July 18, 27, 2012, Nov 18, 2014
       62 The Waterman’s Baseball Team, Mar 2, 2012, Nov 19, 2014, Nov 4, 2015
       63 Waterman’s in Canada, Jan 1, 2008, Nov 21, 2014, Dec 29, 2015
       64 The Founcil combo, Jan 26, 30, 2012, Nov 22, 2014
       65 Stub and Italic, July 19, 1999, Nov 24, 2014
       66 The Straight Pen, July 23, 1999, Nov 27, 2014
       67 Obscure Obliques, May 31, 1999, Aug 2007, Nov 29, 2014
       68 The Word ‘Nib’, Nov 30, 2014
   December (7)
   69 The Geocentric Pen Universe, Dec 4, 2014
   70 The ‘Peter Pen’ Episode, May 31, 1999, Dec 7, 2014
       71 The Waterman’s globe-shaped Santa, Dec 21, 2011, Dec 11, 2014
       72 System, the magazine of business, Dec 14, 2014 Jan 7, 2015
       73 A. A. Waterman obituary, Dec 20, 2014
       74 Jewelry Trademarks 1922, Dec 28, 2014
       75 Arrow Trademark Pointers, May 1, 2010, July 7, 2010, Aug 13, 2010, Dec 31, 2014
2015 (107)
   January (11)
       76 The Waterman’s Plunger Filler, Jan 17, 2006, Jan 1, 2015
   77 The Waterman’s Vacuum Filler, July 24 2006, Jan 4, 2015
   78 The Snorkel Vanishing Point, Jan 22, 2006, Jan 7, 2015
       79 The Snorkel Precursors, Aug 6, 2006, Jan 11, 2015
       80 The Vacumatic Precursors, July 26, 2006, Jan 14, 2015
   81 The First Crescent Fillers, June 23, 2007, Jan 17, 2015
       82 The Aerometric Fillers, Nov 30, 2005 Sept 20, 2006, Jan 19, 2015
       83 The Fountain Pen Ballpoints, Aug 2, 2006, June 26, 2007, Jan 21, 2015
       84 The MacKinnon Pen, Jan 23, 2015
       84a First Landmark Achieved, 100,000 words, Jan 25, 2015
       85 The Eyedropper Era, June 16, 2007, Jan 27, 2015
       86 The Civil War Pens, Jan 27, 2013, Jan 29, 2015
   February (13)
       87 Red Hard Rubber, 13 Mar, 21 Apr 1999, 13 Feb 2000, 30 Dec 2005, 29 Dec 2012, 1 Feb 2014, 14 Feb 2015
       88 RHR patents and trademarks, Aug 13, 2010, Feb 4, 2015
       89 The Montblanc Splat, June 1, 2009, Feb 7, 2015
       90 A Vintage Pen Repair Shop, May 27, 31, Oct 23, 2005, Sept 5, 2007, Jan 30, 2012, Feb 9, 2015
       91 John Peters Humphrey’s Fountain Pen, July 1999, Feb 11, 2015
       92 Red & Black, and Black & Red, Aug 13, 2010, Feb 13, 2015
   93 Longhand, Shorthand, Oct 1, 2006, Feb 15, 2015
       94 Early Parker Duofold Pencils, Jan 7, 2012, Feb 17, 2015
       95 Frank Dubiel, and the Waterman’s Autograph Album, Jan 22, 2007, Dec 7, 2012, Feb 19, 2015
   96 The White Owl Pen, Mar 21, 2005, Oct 25, 2007, Feb 21, 2015
       97 Parker Centennial Eternals, June 28, July 6, 2005, Oct 17, 2007, Feb 23, 2015
   98 Trench Pens, and Pompeian Orange, Feb 10, 2006 Feb 21, 2006, Feb 25, 2015
       99 The Ink Tablet Pens, May 25, 2012 Mar 8, 2013, Feb 27, 2015
   March (2)
       100 A Brief History of the Fountain Pen, Pentexts 1-13, 1993-98, Mar 14, 2015
       101 History of the Fountain Pen, Mar 14, 2015
   April (8)
       102 A Gloss on the Word ‘Pen’, Mar 19, 2008, Apr 1, 2015
       103 The Origin of the Word ‘Nib’, Aug 10, 1998, May 31, 1999, Apr 7, 2015
       104 The Ironic Mark, Aug 27, 2010, Apr 13, 2015
       105 The ‘Ne Plus Ultra’ Of Pens, June 29, 2007 May 4, 2010, Apr 16, 2015
       106 An Earlier Waterman’s Jointless, Apr 19, 2015
       107 Button Fillers, and Twist Fillers, Feb 6-14, 2006, Apr 22, 2015
       108 A Parker Duofold press filler, Nov 3, 2012, Apr 25, 2015
       109 ‘Pendom’ and ‘Pencildom’, Feb 16, 2012, May 31, 2013, Apr 28, 2015
   May (10)
       110 Dear Reader, May 1, 2015
       111 Nobuyoshi Nagahara, May 3, 2015
       112 Diamond-Pointed Gold Nibs, Feb 11. 24, 2008, May 15, 2012, May 7, 2015
       113 The Century Inkstand, Mar 2, 14, 2008, May 11, 2015
       114 Gilliam’s ‘Ezerite’ and ‘Dubel Servis’, Nov 22, 2012, May 15, 2015
       115 When Did Fountain Pens First Catch On?, May 10, 2013, May 19, 2015
       116 And When Did Quills Die Out?, May 24. 31, 2013, May 22, 2015
       117 Some Favorite Pen Patents, July 20, 2006, May 25, 2015
       118 Some Favorite Pen Trademarks, May 1, 2010, May 28, 2015
       119 Zoss List archives, May 30, 2015
   June (9)
       120 Parker 51 Pleasant Memory, Jan 29, 2000, June 2, 2015
       121 Parker Model Numbers, 1, July 30, 2005, Oct 19, 22, 2006, Sept 29, Nov 12, 2007, June 5, 2015
       122 Parker Model Numbers, 2, Oct 19, 22, 2006, Sept 29, 2007, June 9, 2015
       123 The Parker Duofold Numbers, Jan 10, 2005, Aug 3, 2005, Nov 3, 4, 2007, June 13, 2015
   124 Scientific American magazine, June 16, 2015
   125 The Word ‘Fountpen’, Dec 7, 13, 21, 2011, Dec 9, 2014, May 7, 2015, June 19, 2015
       126 The Writing Machine, June 17, July 17, 2007, June 1, 2010, Oct 21, 2013, June 22, 2015
   127 The Gravity Fillers, July 22, 2006. July 7, 2007, June 25, 2015
       128 The Easy Writers, May 13, 2010, June 28, 2015
   July (9)
       129 A Pen Collecting Timeline, again, Aug 11, 2008, May 28, 2015, July 1, 2015
   130 The First Hotel Pen Shows, June 5, 6, 2008, July 5, 2015
   131 Pen Shows and Pen Meetings, Aug 28, 29, 2008, July 9, 2015
       132 The Problematic PFC, June 6-to-July 14, 2008, July 13, 2015
       133 The Fourth Decade, Aug 29, 2008, July 17, 2015
       134 Pen Shops, and Pen Sellers, Aug 29, 2008, July 21, 2015
   135 PFC Lifetime Members, Aug 30-to-Sept 2, 2008, July 25, 2015
   136 Johnny Cuevas, May 17, 2005, Aug 31, 2008, July 29, 2015
   137 Canadian Collectors, Aug 31, 2008, July 31, 2015
   August (9)
   138 Cliff & Judy Lawrence, Sept 2, 2008, Aug 2, 2015
   139 ‘Some Guy’ in the PFC, Sept 6, 2008, Aug 5, 2015
   140 ‘His Nibs’ Philip Poole, Sept 9-12, 2008, Aug 11, 2015
   141 Dick Johnson, Sept 15, 16, 2008, Aug 14, 2015
   142 PFC statistics, Sept 23-25, 2008, Aug 17, 2015
   143 Pen World early issues, Sept 8, 30, Oct 1, 2008, Aug 20, 2015
   144 Vintage Pen Shows Again, Oct 2-8, 2008, Jan 26, 2014, Aug 23, 2015
   145 Chicago Pen Show 2009, May 6, 2009, Aug 26, 2015
       146 Pen Show Stories, Jan 28, 2012, Aug 29, 2015
   September (9)
   147 Printers’ Ink magazine, Sept 1, 2015
   148 The Kharkiv ‘Autopen’, Sept 20-30, 2008, Aug 20, 2010, Sept 9, 2015
   149 The Waterman’s color nibs, Jan 9, 2001, Jan 9, 2005, Apr 29, 2005, June 7, 2005, Sept 12, 2015
   150 Two Crossed Nibs, May 8, 10, 2010, Sept 15, 2015
       151 The survival rate of Cross pens, May 8, 2003, Jan 16, 2013, Sept 18, 2015
   152 The MacKinnon ‘Sovereign’ Pen, the original ‘Longshort’ pen, Feb 28, 29, Mar 7, 2012, Sept 21, 2015
   153 The Goble Inkwell, Sept 24, 2015
   154 Prince’s Protean, and vulcanite, Apr 21, 27, 28, July 13, 14, 2007, June 2, 2009, Sept 27, 2015
   155 The Conklin Buildings, Nov 12, 2012, Sept 29, 2015
   October (9)
   156 The Waterman’s Globe section-cleaner, July 11, 2007, May 10, 2014, Oct 2, 2015
   157 More Ball-Pointed Nibs, May 27, Aug 13, 2010, Oct 5, 2015
   158 The Button Filler Inventor, Sept 25, 2005, Oct 8, 2015
       158a Second Landmark Reached, 200,000 words, Oct 11, 2015
   159 Pens & Nibs, and Italics, Mar 14, 1999, Oct 14, 2015
   160 The Hard Rubber Substitutes, Apr 27, 2010, Oct 17, 2015
   161 The Word Processor, Sept 2, 3, 2005, Oct 20, 2015
       162 Flurries Of Trademark Activity, Apr 22, 2010, May 6, 2010, June 24, 2010, Oct 23, 2015
   163 Quills & Inkhorns, June 5, 2010, Oct 26, 2015
   164 Another ‘Big Red’ Frankenpen, and the ‘Little Red’, Oct 29, 2015, Dec 4, 2015
   November (9)
   165 Pierced By A Waterman’s Pen, Apr 29, June 12, 2010, Nov 1, 2015
   166 The Anti-Shark Pen, and the Anti-Splat pen, Sept 2, 2003, Nov 7, 2015
       167 The ‘Mercantile’ Trademarks, Aug 13, 2010, Nov 10, 2015
   168 The ‘St. George’ Pen, Aug 13, 2010, Nov 13, 2015
   169 The ‘Onoto’ name, July 5-12, 2010, Oct 5, 2011, Aug 10, 2015, Nov 16, 2015
   170 A Cartridge Pen Patent In 1853?, Mar 31, April 12, 2012, Oct 15-23, 2013, Nov 19, 2015
       171 The Madeheim Fountain Pen, July 17, 18, 28, Aug 13, 15, Dec 1, 2, 3, 2005, Nov 22, 2015
   172 Warren N. Lancaster on L. E. Waterman, Aug 31, Sept 4, 5, 6, 2005, Nov 1, 6, 2007, Nov 25, 2015
   173 Waterman’s first pens, Dec 13, 14, 15, 2006, Jan 31, 2007, Feb 1, 2, 3, 2007, Nov 28, 2015
   December (9)
   174 The Peel Pen Shop, Oct 31, Dec 3, 11, 12, 29, 30, 31, 2008, Dec 1, 2015
   175 The Waterman’s Treasure Chest, Jan 1, 2, 5-7, 10, 2009, Dec 7, 2015
   176 Conklin and the Starr Pen Co., Jan 10, 11, 2009, Dec 10, 2015
   177 Nelthorpe & Williamson, July 10, 11, 2009, Dec 13, 2015
   178 Aikin Lambert history, Aug 7, 11, 2009, Dec 16, 2015
   179 Eversharp ‘Skyline’ Ballpoint, Sept 19, 21, 2010, Dec 19, 2015
   180 Glass-Nibbed Fountain Pens, July 3, 5, 6, 2005, Dec 22, 2015
   181 Pioneers and Inventors, Oct 18, 2011, Dec 24, 2015
       182 Waterman’s and the FTC, Jan 20-22, 2011, Dec 27, 2015
2016 (38)
   January (9)
   183 The word ‘ink pencil’, Oct 23, Nov 26, 28, Dec 11, 12, 2011, Jan 1, 2016
   184 Waterman’s F. P. Seymour, May 17, 2013, Jan 7, 2016
   185 Early pen collectors, May 12, 2012, Jan 10, 2016
       186 Waterman’s Smallest Pens, May 18, 2012, Jan 13, 2016
       187 Livermore in Providence, June 9, 10, July 13, 2012, Jan 12, Feb 22, 2013, Jan 16, 2016
   188 The Poppy Pen, Nov 1, 2004, Feb 28, Mar 9, 2005, Nov 30, 2011, Jan 19, 2016
   189 Wirt v. Rivals court cases, Jan 22, 2016
   190 History, and Waterman’s Ads, Jan 25, 2016
       191 “An orange-colored waterman’s” in 1887?, Dec 17, 2011, Jan 28, 2016
   February (9)
       192 The Lamy Tipofold, May 11, 12, 22-24, 2008, Feb 1, 2016
       193 The Waterman’s Token, May 16, 17, June 25, 2012, Feb 6, 2016
   194 The Waterman’s ‘Signagraph’, May 17, 18, 20, 2012, Feb 9, 2016
   195 Morton, and Kaweco, Mar 28, Aug 31, 2005, Nov 13, 2005, Feb 12, 2016
   196 City Business Directories, Feb 15, 2016
   197 Thomas Jefferson’s fountain pen, 1999, Dec 31, 2005, Feb 19, 2016
       198 MacKinnon’s all-metal stylos, Apr 6-12, 2010, Feb 21, 2016
       199 A MacKinnon pencil?, Feb 24, 2016
       200 The Funnel Inkwell, Feb 27, 2016
   March (9)
       201 Quink, and Superchrome Ink, Aug 3, 4, 6, 2005, Feb 9, 2006, Mar 7, 2014, Mar 1, 2016
       201a Third Landmark Reached, 250,000 words, Mar 4, 2016
       202 Stylographic Pens In Fiction, July 13, 2009, Mar 7, 2016
       203 Waterman’s v. Shipmans, Sept 2005, Aug 2007, Mar-Apr-May 2012, Jan 2013, Mar 10, 2016
       204 The early Waterman’s ads, Feb 11, 18, June 27, 28, 29, July 1, 2013, Mar 13, 2016
       205 The Waterman’s Ideal Globe, Dec 21, 2005, Apr 24, 2012, Mar 16, 2016
       206 The Waterman’s ‘Hat Pin’ Pen, May 8, 16, 2012, Mar 19, 2016
       207 The Waterman’s Travel Ink, June 23, 1999, July 10, 2007, Mar 31, 2012, Mar 23, 2016
       208 Index of US patents, 1842-1969, Mar 25, 2016
       209 The Parker ‘Thrift-time’, Sept 2004, Mar 31, 2016
April (10)
       210 Poor Ink, Poor Pen, Aug 21, 2007, Apr 3, 2016
       211 The Writing Hand, July 19, 2007, Apr 5, 2016
       212 The Word ‘Pensmith’, July 18, 2010, Apr 7, 2016
       213 The Missing X-Patents, July 21, 2007, Apr 9, 2016
       214 Fountain Pen Bibliography, Apr 11, 2016
       215 Bibliometrics and Citations, Apr 13, 2016
       216 The Wayback Machine, Apr 15, 2016
       217 My Bibliography, Apr 17, 2016
       218 And who ‘I’ am, Apr 19, 2016
       219 X-It, Exit, Apr 21, 2016
   May (1)
   220 Footnote, or headnote, May 1, 2016
      [Endrun.]

Blackboard
       My photo, Sept 2006
   Books on a shelf, June 2014
   My Masthead Photo, Feb 2016
   Montblanc M Anti-Splat, Nov 2015
   Figural Digital Signatures, Mar 2016
   Third Landmark Reached, Mar 2016
       Fountain Pen Patents vol. 1, May 2016
   Fountain Pen Patents vol. 2, Apr 17, 2007, Apr 2016
       Patents and Penmakers vol. 3, June 2016
   Fountain Pen Etymologies, Dec 2016

Local history and historic theatre research
, Roxy Theatre–Towne Cinema, September 15, 1991, research paper for MHAC used as the basis for the next three essays and articles.
, “The Roxy, Saskatoon’s Last Historic Theatre”, Historic Theatres’ Trust Bulletin, Spring-Summer 1995, pp.4-6, the intermediate version of this essay.
, “The Roxy, Saskatoon’s Last Historic Theatre”, Saskatoon Sun, November 24, 1996, p. B13, the short version, an article in the local newspaper.
, “The Roxy, Saskatoon’s Last Historic Theatre”, Saskatoon History Review, #13, 1998, pp.8-23, the complete version of the essay. Also “Correction”, Saskatoon History Review, #14, 1999, p.16, corrections to the essay in volume #13.
, “The Day Saskatoon Almost Vanished”, Saskatoon History Review, #18, 2004, pp.27-28.
, “The Third Empire Theatre Press Book”, Saskatoon History Review, #19, 2005, pp.13-14.
, “The Roxy’s Rebirth”, Saskatoon History Review, #20, 2006, pp.55-57.
, Saskatoon’s Historic Theatres 1883-1931, The Disappeared Ones (The Writing Hand Press, researched between 1987-2016, forthcoming), ~195 pp.
, Saskatoon Hours and Days, an essay on the nature in this city (The Writing Hand Press, researched between 2007-2016, forthcoming), ~9 pp.
, Saskatoon Obituaries, 1902-45, helped set up website for Eleanor Kennedy, http://saskatoonobituaries.blogspot.ca.
, A Selection of Saskatoon Collectors, those indefinite articles, Saskatoon’s shady antique dealers (The Writing Hand Press, collected since 1969, with the help of John McGowan, written between 2009-2016, forthcoming), ~83 pp.

Fri, Feb 5, 2016

Word Count

Posts on blogs, 300,000 words
Posts on FPN, 125,000 words
Posts on L&P, 400,000 words
Patents 1 book, 175,000 words
Patents 2 book, 105,000 words
Penmakers book, 140,000 words
Etymologies 1 book, 150,000 words
Etymologies 2 book, 99,999 words
Posts on the Zoss List, ? words
Posts on Pentrace, ? words
Other message boards, ? words

Wed, July 15, 2015

A Fountain Pen Bibliography

And finally, there’s the fountain pen bibliography. There are others elsewhere, such as this one, but my inclusive version is 55 pages, way too long for this blog, so I’m saving it for a book. Let me know when you, too, have read all of the books and articles. Then we’ll talk, boy, will we eeever talk!

Sat, July 11, 2015

X-It, Exit

US Trademark no. 144,412 for ink eradicator.

George Kovalenko.

Sun, Nov 29, 2015

Stephen Overbury, Feb 20, 2003. “When a man is tired of pens, he is tired of life.”

“Que sçais-je?”

Thur, Nov 22, 2018

My shoulder patch.

collection3

Monday, June 15, 2015

Introduction