Fountain Pens: The Collector's Guide to Selecting, Buying, and Enjoying New and Vintage Fountain Pens

by Jonathan Steinberg

Book Overview

A guide to collecting fountain pens features advice on finding, assessing, and buying antique, classic, and intricately designed pens, including the 1920 Orange Parker Duofold and the 1934 Mont Blanc. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561382213
• ISBN13: 9781561382217
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 9.4" x 12.3"

Customer Reviews

Sometimes a pen is just a pen. (But not every time....)

Anyone who enjoys the beauty and mechanics of fine fountain pens will enjoy this volume. The book contains dozens of beautifully photographed pens, most from 1900-1940, a golden age for fountain pens. The intricately engraved and filigreed metals and hand-painted plastics are well presented, with brief descriptions of each pen. Most of the pens are beyond the budget of anyone but the most serious collector, but their allure is captured well.The emphasis on collecting rare pens limits its scope and appeal: Interesting (but less valuable) pens of the post-World War II period are largely ignored. However, this is one of the few book s on pens, and the beautiful merging of form, function, and fanciful embellishment is evident on every page. There is a brief history of fountain pens, focusing mainly on mechanical advances. Some of this description is too dense, and the inclusion of diagrams from the period is interesting but not very instructive for the non-collector. Includes names of dealers (and even fountain pen clubs), a guide to what is repairable in a used pen, and histories of pen manufacturers. Recommended especially for collectors, and generally for people interested in how design and craft can elevate the aesthetics of an everyday object.

A useful guide for serious fountain pen collectors.

I have been collected fountain pens for 7 years, and I always would like to find some books which can improve my knowledge and skill of collecting. This book is compendious, but contains every basic concepts that a pen collector must have. It is usuful and beautiful. Some firends of mine want to buy this book, but it is out of stock for a while. I hope it can back to stock soon.