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This thread is inspired by @brokenclay's A Poem A Day thread, I am looking for methods to practice my handwriting and also help others who are trying to find good passages to copy as practice. Please comment one of your favourite boom passages or any book passage you like! Here's one passage I really like: "The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way , not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller, but for want of an understanding ear." - Stephen King Different seasons

Hi, Guys! I need your all knowing help. I have a friend who is studying Art and he wants to base his thesis on Montblanc Pens as a form of Art. He needs quite a few book references on which they talk about the subject of Montblanc Pens to support this. The books don’t have to be solely dedicated to MB though! The only ones I have (I know, shame on me!) are these 7. Could you please give me any more titles? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

I hope this is the appropriate forum for this posting. There do not seem to be reviews of books not directly related to pen and pen history but about other pen related topics. So I thought I’d start one and see if anyone else has books that they would recommend. If anyone has books related to correspondence, pen art, handwriting etc. perhaps you could add them. The book I will start with is More than Words: Illustrated Letters from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art by Liza Kirwin. Illustrations in the letters were often done with the same pen, dip end in the 1800’s and fountain pens in the later letters. Frida Kahlo apologizes for a letter written in pencil, she can’t find fountain pen and ink. If you ever wondered what Winslow Homer’s, Andy Warhol’s, Dale Chihuly’s, or Marcel Duchamp’s handwriting looked like this book shows examples. Each letter represented shows how the artist integrated their correspondence with a drawing or sketch. Are there any other books out there that somebody would like to recommend?

I have really gotten myself into fountain pen repair, in the last two years. I have spent money on books, tools, parts etc. But what fascinates me the most is nib tuning and repairing. What I mean by that is any work that is done on the nib, such as crack welding, retipping, polishing, smoothing and grinding. Especially grinding. However I struggle to find any information, regarding nib grinding. No videos, guides on what machinery is used, where can one get such machinery, what polishing compounds or wheels are used, nothing at all. I am truly desperate because I really want to learn how to do this (I consider it even as a profession) and I have no access to any useful information at all. Does anyone know any books, websites, pdf's, anything that has information on how to do various grinds. What wheels-bits are used, what compounds, where can one get these...Anything at all would help me a lot ! P.S. I am not interested in using stones etc, these I know how to use them, plus I find them inconvenient . I am talking about methods that require power tools, such as dremels, or other custom (or not) grinding machines, that get the job done fast.

I stopped by a local thrift shop today and got a book, Fountain Pens-History, Repair, and Current Values by Cliff Lawrence (Collector Books, 1977). The book contains lots of good information, but the last section is a pictured price guide of approximately 100 pens. Naturally, prices from 42 years ago are low, but when adjusted for inflation (314.4%), they show how some pens have far outstripped inflation, while others are about the same (or less) value today. This is not meant as a comment on the accuracy or a criticism of Mr.Lawrence's book. It was one of the first books on the topic, and was written at a time when prices of fountain pens were not well established. Here is a sampling of listed prices and the inflation adjusted amount. 1923 Waterman 58 Red Ripple $105 ($435.09) 1928 Waterman Patrician $65 ($269.34) 1898 Parker 37 Sterling silver snake overlay $250 ($1,035.92) 1923 Parker Big Red $110 ($455.80) 1923 Parker Duofold Jr. pencil in rhr $30 ($124.31) 1928 Parker Sr. Duofold in Mandarin yellow $125 (517.96) 1940 Oversized Vacumatic $30 (124.31) 1946 Parker 51 gray w/gf cap $10 ($41.44) 1932 Sheaffer Balance full size, black $32 ($132.60) 1949 Sheaffer Triumph $10 ($41.44) 1941 Wahl Eversharp Skyline, bandless brown moire pattern $4 (($16.57) 1944 Wahl Eversharp Fifth Avenue fp $12 ($49.72) 1948 Montblanc gold plated cap and barrel (model not listed) $48 ($198.90)

I seem to gravitate towards films that include letters somehow, but have found it has happened with BOOKS as well. Unfortunately I can’t sit still long enough to read books. (I feel terrible when I have to confess this to my correspondents who all seem to love reading!) But I do collect children’s books and have found that for such a small collection I have picked up several that in one form or another have something to do with Letters or Snail Mail. This thread is for Books only. (I’ve made a separate one for films). I’m hoping the members of FPN will help compile a list of Books that include Snail Mail as part of the story. (They don’t have to be children’s books. )

The next best thing to having pens is having books full of them. I'm spending this weekend getting my library in order, and I laid out all my pen books on the bed for a family photo. I'm missing my big Vacumatic book, which iI now realize was lost in a big fire that consumed my office a year ago (among other losses I'd rather not dwell on). The Montblanc and FPH pieces are brochures. If you have other books about pens you can share, this would be a good place to do so, so we can all have an idea of what's out there and what we should get. (I don't have the Frank Dubiel and the Marshall & Oldfield repair books, for example.)

Douglas Kennedy's novel Temptation describes the Waterman Edson as "the Ferrari of writing instruments." When he moved back to Manhattan, he had an Omas pen and a Moleskine NB. https://therealdeal.com/2015/01/10/inside-the-home-of-author-douglas-kennedy/

Hi all, My nan gave me her old calligraphy book when I was in my teens, but it wandered off when I was living in a houseshare a few years ago. It was excellent - very clear and simply laid out, with a "poster script" I've not seen since, so would like to try and find a copy. My Googlings & searching of Abe Books & Amazon have so far come to naught, so I turn to you all! It was slightly smaller than A4, paperback, and only about 32 pages (ish). The cover was very plain, a dark greyish colour, with just the title & publisher. I think it was published by Pitman. It could have been from any time between the late 1920s - mid 1950s. I don't remember the title, which is my main problem! The poster script was described as being designed to be written swiftly, with most letters being made of a maximum of 2 strokes. Visually it looked like an adaptation of foundational. Does this ring any bells at all?!

For the past few months, I've been working on improving my handwriting. I've always written a lot, when at uni, for example, and developed an unruly scrawl. Unfortunately, my scanner won't work with this computer, so I can't show you examples; generally I had shortened versions of letters, such as a weird half-g, and the general impression that a spider had crawled over my page. The model for my recent attempts at improvement came from the book, "Teach Yourself: Improve Your Handwriting," but I feel I've gone as far as this book can take me, and I'm still not satisfied. There is a youtube pen and ink reviewer called 'The Pen Pixie' who has the style of writing to which I aspire. This vid shows examples of her hand, note that she doesn't begin writing until 10mins into the vid so you can just skip to then: I'm not keen on the way she writes her 'b' or 'f', but the general style is nice. Can you recommend any other books which will take me further in my handwriting journey please? Or a particular script which it might be useful for me to focus upon? Thank you, Catherine

Hi all, I'm looking at picking up a copy of Paul Erano's book Fountain Pens Past & Present (2nd edition) and have a copy lined up but the price (combined with shipping) is reasonably hefty (for someone in my financial bracket anyway lol). Before I pull the trigger on this purchase, was just wondering if anyone has any experience with this particular title and whether they could please offer some thoughts on it? Thanks in advance, Cheers, Mike

Hello All, I recently read an article about a man who completed a handwritten copy of the bible, which he was going to ceremoniously present to a local church. Understanding that within the last few hundred years, copying by hand was required if one wished to replicate a written work - are there people that still do this? As I dwelve into the land of FPs, calligraphy and penmanship I've considered copying books as a way to entertain me while I practice my writing. Unfortunately I get bored doing repetitive exercises (yes, I know that exercises are important too....) so I'm looking for something more exciting to fill my time practicing. If people still do this, any tips?

Here's a really cool book full of intriguing writing prompts titled, "642 Things to Write About". I found it in Chapters and thought It would help my writing process. So, I thought I'd share in hopes that it may help out some others too. prompt eg. "Write what your desk thinks about during the night"