Hello From France !

[Goelande]

Hello !

 

I'm from France and I must confess that I love fountain pens, and other pens too : all that allows me to write and express myself.

But these tools need to be comfortable and beautiful for me... that's why I prefer fountain pens !

 

My little "collection" :

 

- Waterman Charleston Ivory, with a stub nib ;

 

- Waterman Charleston Ebony with a broad nib ;

 

- Pelikan M200 with a broad nib ;

 

- Sailor Demonstrator with a MS nib ;

 

- Sheaffer Agio with a medium nib.

 

Since I met Iroshizuku I use it with pleasure : in Yama-Budo, in Asa-Gao, in Yama-Guri and in Tsutsuji (in order of pens appearance...!) ; only the last pen uses Herbin in Vert Olive (I'm not fan of asian medium nibs... which are too much fine for me).

 

I think very seriously about buying a Duofold Centenial in black, but I keep hesitating for the nib between medium italic and broad (not italic). I wrote during a long time almost exclusively with a special Sheaffer No Nonsense with a calligraphic nib : an italic stub, and I don't know yet what to choose for the Duofold... So if you can help me, you are welcome !

 

I already read different posts about that on FPN and I learned a lot of things ! (Thank you for sharing all what you know !!!) But despite of that I didn't decide yet...

 

Have a nice day full of joy !

[Lalique]

Aloha, Goelande:

 

Welcome to FPN!

 

Congratulations on your fine collection of fountain pens. Yes, I agree with you that writing instruments must be comfortable and beautiful. You are in good company here at FPN because FPN members, as do you, love to write with a fountain pen.

 

You may be interested in reading this FPN review of the broad nib on a Parker Duofold International as well as the pen itself, http://www.fountainp...-international/

 

I love France! Presently I'm reading the book, "Americans in Paris" that is about the impressions of Paris expressed in writing by various noted Americans who spent time in Paris from Benjamin Franklin in 1767 through Dorothea Tanning in 1986. Wonderful insights!

 

I am happy you've joined us, Goelande.

 

Happy pen trails to you : ) .

Edited June 15, 2012 by Lalique

[Pen Nut]

Hello & welcome to you. Great collection you have already there.

[Sasha Royale]

Welcome !

 

It seems you prefer to write with a wide ribbon of color on the paper.

Visit the ink forum to learn about the variety of inks available.

 

Have fun.

[myn]

What a lovely collection of pens. This url leads to some lovely writing samples of the different nibs for the Duofold Centennial. I

hope it is of some help in making up your mind.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/167703-duofold-centennial-italic-nibs/

 

Welcome to FPN and happy penning.

[goldiesdad]

Howdy from us here in Texas ....

[yus2001fr]

Welcome on board !

[Goelande]

Thanks a lot for your so nice welcome !!!

 

Thanks a lot for the links too ; I've already seen them : it has been my way to this forum !

Despite of them, I keep hesitating, but perhaps I'll finally choose the broad nib for this famous "wide ribbon of color on the paper" (as Sasha Royale said !) that I love so much...

 

My "collection of pens" is little, but full of passion !

 

Thank you Lalique for your declaration of love for France ! Your book seems to be very interesting. Your name here means a lot about french art of light...

I don't need to worry anymore about my poor english language !!!

Edited June 15, 2012 by Goelande

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you join us!!

[Lalique]

The one thing I read concerning the two nibs, Medium vs Broad in the review at the link I posted and that gave me pause was that the ink reservoir in the Duofold was rather small. Therefore, the FPN reviewer said, only five pages of writing was able to be produced using the broad nib due to greater ink flow before the pen had to be loaded up again with ink. Perhaps a different fountain pen with a larger, or large ink capacity would be more suitable for a broad nibbed pen.

 

I recently read that there is now a new Lalique museum dedicated to Lalique's fine glass work. I'd love to see it! I own a vintage 1991 limited edition Montblanc Creation Lalique desk set for which I need a 1991 - 1994 Montblanc Meisterstuck 149 fountain pen for my Lalique pen holder so that the vintages will match. It was on the day I purchased my Montblanc Creation Lalique desk that I joined FPN and posted my screen name, Lalique.

 

In my book, "Americans in Paris", it is fascinating to read how Paris changed from the 18TH century through the 20TH. I was especially interested in Thomas Paine's involvement, attempting to save the life of Louis XVI as a representative to the National Convention of France, January 19, 1793 through deliverance of an impassioned speech translated by a French interpreter on the Convention floor arguing that France had only one ally, America, and that America was the only nation who could furnish France with naval provisions against the kingdoms of northern Europe, further arguing that Louie XVI had sent ships, arms, troops and munitions to America in support of America's Revolutionary War, and therefore, that his execution would "wound the feelings of your ally".

Edited June 16, 2012 by Lalique

[Goelande]

Wow, Lalique : you teach me things about my own country, how great you are !!! I'm not found of history, but some facts are very interesting, yes. I thought you would tell me about Haussmann too : Paris has been totally ruined on 19th century to build all that you can see now : large avenues, and "haussmannian buildings", etc. Before Paris was like a group of many little villages. So, a lot of writers talked about these transformations on a personal and sensitive mood, as Baudelaire ("La forme d'une ville change plus vite helas que le coeur d'un mortel...") ou Cendrars ("Foutez mon enfance par terre...").

 

But when I want to read something about Nature and wide wild landscapes, I only find that in american litterature ! Barry Lopez, Aldo Leopold, Howard Norman (for his first book) are my heroes...

 

What you tell about Duofold's reservoir is important if you want to keep your stylo with you eveywhere and all the time. But I'll let it at my home to write personal notes exclusively. So I won't have to take my ink everywhere... that's why it's a minor point for me. Even if I agree : Parker should ameliorate that.

 

About Lalique museum :

http://www.musee-lalique.com/

Don't hesitate to tell me if you come in France to visit it !!!

[Lalique]

I thought you would tell me about Haussmann too : Paris has been totally ruined on 19th century to build all that you can see now : large avenues, and "haussmannian buildings", etc. Before Paris was like a group of many little villages. So, a lot of writers talked about these transformations on a personal and sensitive mood, as Baudelaire ("La forme d'une ville change plus vite helas que le coeur d'un mortel...") ou Cendrars ("Foutez mon enfance par terre...").

 

But when I want to read something about Nature and wide wild landscapes, I only find that in american litterature ! Barry Lopez, Aldo Leopold, Howard Norman (for his first book) are my heroes...

 

About Lalique museum :

http://www.musee-lalique.com/

Don't hesitate to tell me if you come in France to visit it !!!

 

Aloha, Goelande:

 

Baron Georges Eugene Houssmann was appointed Prefect of the Seine in 1853 by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, who, following his election to President in 1848, had assumed the title, Napoleon III in 1852. One of Napoleon III's objectives was to be able to exert effective military control over Paris, mindful that revolutionary revolts had toppled several French governments, not the least of which was accomplished by the people of France in the French Revolution beginning in 1789 and recounted in "Americans in Paris" by Gouverneur Morris, Jr., his true given name at birth, not a conferred title of office, in his, "A Diary of the French Revolution". Gouvernour Morris wrote "A Diary of the French Revolution" while on private business in Paris. He had been an American revolutionary against England and the corporate control of the East India Company, adverse to the economic interests of the American colonies and accomplished through onerous taxation legislation passed by the English Parliament on behalf of the company resulting from the undue economic influence of the East India Company over Members of Paliament, and for independent American economic and national sovereignty. Gouverneur Morris had served in America's Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779 during which time he advocated for a strong centralized American government and on which issue he ran for a second term, but was not re-elected. Morris was a supporter of Louis XVI for the king's role in supporting America's revolution, and on a number of occasions, he tried to help Louis XVI escape into exile. Morris was appointed American minister in France by George Washington in 1792. He is credited for having written the Preamble to the United States Constitution and for writing large sections of the Constitution of the United States of America. He was also a signatory of America's Articles of Confederation in 1778.

 

Ideas for revising the city plan of Paris began in 1794, the year Gouverneur Morris left Paris for America, with a "Commission of Artists" who proposed a project that would broaden avenues in Paris on an east-west axis with a Grande strait line boulevard to run from Place de la Nation to the Louvre and highlight the Tuileries, the Louvre and the Champs Elysees leading to the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile. Another event that played into the revision of the city plan for Paris was the French Cholera epidemic of 1832 in which 20,000 Parisians died out of a total population of 650,000, that along with the advent of "Social Medicine" that studied the social interaction of populations, circulation of air, proximity of human populations to cemeteries, etc. as they relate to the transmission of disease.

 

As to American nature literature, the best books on the subject, in my opinion, are those by America's celebrated and honored, John Muir, "The Story of My Boyhood and Youth", "My First Summer in the Sierra", "The Mountains of California", "A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf" and "Stickeen". John Muir was a co-founder of the Sierra Club and it's first President. It was through the efforts of John Muir that California's Yosemite Valley became a United States national park after he spent time with President Teddy Roosevelt at Roosevelt's request, guiding him through and camping with him in the valley over a period of several days. John Muir's efforts ultimately led to the creation of America's national park system.

 

I have two questions for you, Goelande. Do literary salons of Paris still exist as they did in the late 18TH and early through late 19TH centuries? Are university lectures still open to the general public free of charge?

 

Thank you for your kind offer for me to call you should I get away to France. I'd love a French guide. I have several video production projects going on at this time, the largest of which will be on Moloka'i, Hawai'i and the Big Island of Hawai'i late this year, or early next year that's in the planning stage, and I don't see that I would be able to do that in my immediate future, but it is surely a trip I'd love to make someday

Edited June 17, 2012 by Lalique

[Goelande]

Thank you Lalique for the lesson of history ! I love how the point of view can be interesting when you change it... Mine was very "from the inside of France". We have not the same middle on our map of the world, and it's exciting !

 

John Muir is the basis from where I go to discover litterature of nature in USA. And this morning, I just found "Stickeen" for my daughter ! When we talk about it...

My husband keeps wonderful memories of Yosemite... where he went before I met him !

 

I live far from Paris and its intelligentsia, so it's difficult for me to talk about something which was already a kind of secret circle in 19th century... but I think these salons still exist, in another way, today. And to be published by the most famous editors, it becomes a kind of necessity to belong to them.

 

About university lectures, you can find them in different universities in France, not only in Paris, and they are opened to everybody. You can choose to learn about litterature, science, mathematics... by some specialists. And it's free ! You have a kind of programm and you can choose to go when you want. It's called "university of free time" (universite du temps libre). But it's only for pleasure, without any graduation !

 

Why do you go to Hawai'i when you could go to France ? I don't understand...

[Lalique]

One day, perhaps, we will make a trade, unless, that is, I've moved to Moloka'i in the meantime. I will stay with you in France to see the Tuileries, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile, the wine regions, eat at fine french restaurants - Oh, I love fine French food!, attend one or more free lectures at the university on quantum physics and quantum mechanics and go to the symphony; and you will stay with me in California to see Hollywood, La Jolla, Big Sur, Pacific Grove, Monterey and the Montery Bay Aquarium, the Salinas Valley, Yosemite Valley, California's wine region, namely, the Napa Valley, the Grand Canyon, eat at fine restaurants and, if you would enjoy doing it, go to the symphony and, as I'm a Member, to a Mutual UFO Network talk. Our trade would need to be for three to six weeks to see most, or all of it comfortably. I could not do it now, but it is a good thought, or daydream.

 

In preparation for visiting La Jolla, Big Sur, Carmel that is north of Big Sur and south of Pacific Grove, Pacific Grove, Monterey and the Salinas Valley to get a feeling of those places as they were in the 1930s and 1940s, I'd recommend reading John Steinbeck's novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" for which he won a Nobel Prize in fiction in 1962, "Cannery Row" and it's sequel, "Sweet Thursday".

 

Today I confirmed my dates to be in Moloka'i for my video production shoot, January, 2013. I still have dates for production on the Big Island to firm up. I'll be shooting in Baltimore, Maryland next month for which I have my arrangements already made, and after which I will have the video editing to do.

 

It's quite the coincidence that you have John Muir's book, "Stickeen". I would venture to say that most Americans have never ever read any of John Muir's books.

 

It's interesting to me to know that literary salons in France have, in some form, survived those many centuries. Wonderful!

Edited June 18, 2012 by Lalique

[Goelande]

What a beautiful daydream ! Perhaps we'll make it reality one day.

It seems we love the same things ; but I'll show you too the other side of the Atlantic Coast, and the its varation in sand and stones... I'm not fond of towns, and two days in Paris are rather sufficent I think !

 

I read almost all the books that Steinbeck wrote ; and we have all the books from John Muir that have been translated (my husband isn't afraid of reading in english, but I am !), even if I didn't finish to read all them yet. So much to read...

 

If you are a member of Mutual UFO Netwok talk, do you know about Aime Michel ? (I'm curious to know if his famous name crossed the sea...) And the Invisible College ? And of course Jacques Bergier or Charles Hoy Fort ? The fantastic realism is my last interest, and I read about UFO after that.

 

What is the subject of the video you talked about ?

[peachcandy]

Bienvenue sur ce forum! :clap1:

[Goelande]

Merci pour l'accueil !

[Lalique]

It's wonderful you read John Muir and John Steinbeck. They remain two of America's most superb writers in their respective genres, nature writing and realist fiction. John Steinbeck used to spend time at the old Victorian house that John Muir lived in with his wife and children before he left this plane of life. The old Victorian has been a United States National Historic Site since 1964, and it was so when John Steinbeck visited there, http://www.johnmuirassociation.org/ . I've been to the John Muir home and Muir Woods many times myself. The best time to visit the Muir house located in the City of Martinez in Contra Costa County is for his birthday celebration held April 21ST of each year to hear the Great Highland Bagpipe bands play, watch traditional Scottish folk dancing, and to eat fresh fruit from a small portion of the orchard John Muir had tended and that is still remaining from the time when he lived there, etc. http://www.johnmuira...ay-earthday.php John Steinbeck also used to go for walks in Muir Woods National Monument in southwest Marin County near the City of Mill Valley, http://www.britannic...-fconservation/ . It really is evident that John Steinbeck much admired John Muir.

 

I know of The Invisible College from some research I did on Rosicucianism and it's connection to Scottish Rite Freemasonry, the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, but I had not been aware of Aime Michel, Jacques Bergier or Charles Hoy Fort. I followed the writings of Immanuel Velikovsky, Jacque Fabrice Vallee, Karla Turner, Ph.D. and other writers on the subject. Karla Turner's books, though, I found to be superb. I've been watching the case of Gary McKinnon with great interest.

 

In broad terms, my video project on Moloka'i is a documentary on cooperatives and permaculture and how they relate to traditional native Hawaiian spirituality and cultural values.

 

Edited June 19, 2012 by Lalique

[rcarlisle]

Welcome to FPN Goelande!

 

Lovely set of pens there. I love Watermans both new and vintage.

[Goelande]

@Lalique : I read Jacques Vallee (of course), but not the other ones. Aime Michel is well-known (by those who are interested in UFO) for his studies on this wave of UFO in France in 1954 : it is very fascinating because he noticed they were very regular and almost mathematical... His research has been a kind of bomb in the middle of the official, usual and "politically correct" version of these facts. And he is a great man too for his peculiar kind of thinking.

I would love to see your documentary one day ; perhaps it will cross the sea...

@rcarlisle : Thanks a lot for your warm welcome. I would love to have vintage Watermans : often beautiful too.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Goelande