Writing

Notebooks, typewriters, fountain pens: All should by rights be dead, foully killed off by the computer. But they live on.....

I have a soft spot for notebooks and writing implements. So what better gift to receive than one of William Hannah’s finely crafted British notebooks and a Montblanc collectors’ item to use with it?

What a pleasant surprise to wake up and find it's International Fountain Pen Day. Passion blooms anew at Macfilos.....

How much lead is there in a Yard-O-Led propelling pencil. Yes, it's a yard, all squeezed into the Sterling silver barrel....

Mike examines the new analog productivity craze called Bullet Journalling. And takes up his fountain pen to rediscover lost talents.....

Mike has been obsessing about notebooks and pens again. Here he has been scouring the ample shelves of Berlin’s KaDeWe department store.

Mike meets the Kaweco Classic Sport fountain pen and slips off down the path to perdition.

If you are losing your handwriting talents why not buy a few notebooks and a good fountain pen? The Lamy Safari costs around £15 and you cannot better it for writing experience. It will give you back your handwriting mojo, believes Mike. 

It doesn't take much to drag Mike to another epicentre of enthusiastic excess. Here he explores the London Writing Instrument Show. 

It’s no secret that I have a thing about typewriters. I spent most of my working life , including my early years as a journalist, clattering away on old Underwoods, Royals and Imperials. I remember the fun of rubbing out mistakes with a special extra-abrasive eraser, later made redundant by messy white Tipp-Ex liquid. In contrast to that nostalgic mechanical clattery, today’s near-silent, micro-throw keyboards are a boring lot.

Dear Reader - The other day I read a little piece by Derwent May on email etiquette. This is a subject that has troubled me for a long time. As we make more and more use of emails, both business and personal, the angst of knowing how to lay them out gets greater. Hi, Dear, Yo and others vie for the salutation while we have a wide choice of sign offs, including Regards, Kind Regards, Good Wishes, Speak Later, Yrs, Mxx, luv and a dozen others. There is simply no accepted fixed rule that really would be useful.

In my opinion the Parker 51 is the iconic fountain pen of the twentieth century. Its sleek design and sheer ability contrives to make it timeless. It looks as at home in 2015 as it did in 1955; and it writes just as well now as before.

A few weeks ago I described how I had been reunited with the Parker "51", the legendary fountain pen which I had coveted and scrimped and saved for as a callow youth. The pen I bought late last year, almost a perfect replacement for my first 1959 model, has been a true inspiration and has encouraged me to practice writing every day.