19Th-Century Fountain Pen Ads And Articles - From Making Of America E-Texts

June 26, 2015

The universities of Michigan and Cornell have collaborated for years on a project to digitize, and convert the images into searchable text, the contents of a tremendous amount (tens-of-thousands) of 19th-century books and magazine articles. They can be found at the University of Michigan Making of America site, and the Cornell University Making of America site.

Last year I did a search for the term "fountain pen" and gathered a number of images resulting from that search. Many are advertisements, but some are short articles about fountain pens. I have also compiled under "Assorted" some references to the term "fountain pen" and the use of fountain pens outside these contexts.

I hope you enjoy them and find them interesting. The quality of the image is highly dependent upon the original scan. I have shrunk them somewhat, but not by a lot. And I'm sure if you dig you can find a whole lot more I didn't just from the simple search of "fountain pen."

The following are by pen manufacturer. Many of the images have more than one advertisement. I have tried to make sure that when a page does contain more than one, that it is listed under each manufacturer's name.

You'll also see ads for typewriters, pencils, paper and other stuff that may be of interest.

Barnes Steel Pen

1897 Harpers ad for Barnes Steel Pens

Carter's Ink

1889 Scribner's Magazine ad for Carter's Sphinx ink

1899 Century Magazine ad for Carter's Ocean of Ink

S. D. Childs

1901 Elementary School Journal ad for Childs Solid Gold Dollar Fountain Pen

Cross Pen Co.

1889 Scribner's Magazine ad for Cross Peerless fountain pen

1889 Century Magazine ad for Cross Peerless fountain pen

Crown

1892 Manufacturer and Builder Mag. Ad for Crown Fountain Pens

1892 Manufacturer and Builder Mag. Article on How a fountain pen is made, page 1 of 2

1892 Manufacturer and Builder Mag. Article on How a fountain pen is made, page 2 of 2

Edison

1897 Harpers Mag Edison Automatic Fountain Pen by C.W. Little ad

Esterbrook

1889 Century Magazine ad for Esterbrook Falcon dip pen point

1899 Scribner's Mag Esterbrook dip pens ad

1898 Harpers Mag Esterbrook dip pens ad

Faber

1905 Michiganisian (Univ. of Michigan) ad for Dr. Faber's Self Filling Fountain Pen

Fairchild

1887 History of the New York Stock Exchange ad for Leroy W. Fairchild 16K gold pens and fountain pen

Gillott's Steel Pens

1887 History of the New York Stock Exchange ad for Gillott's Steel Pens

Goodspeed

1869 Manufacturer and Builder Mag. ad for Goodspeeds Golden Fountain Pen

Harrison and Bradford

1869 Appleton's Journal ad for Harrison and Bradford's Steel (dip) pens with list of nibs, numbers and prices

Hawkes

1863 Scientific American ad for Gold Pens and Cases also "the best fountain pen in the world" by George F. Hawkes gotta look for this one

Home Pen

It's a pen review!! 1894 Manufacturer and Builder review of the Home Fountain Pen

E. S. Johnson

1869 Manufacturer and Builder Mag. ad for E.S. Johnson and Co's Gold (dip) Pens

Laughlin

Did you know "The Modern Man carries a fountain pen"?

1898 Michiganisian (Univ. of Michigan) ad for the Laughlin Fountain Pen (from Detroit)

Lincoln

1896 Harper's Mag ad for Lincoln Fountain Pen

Mabie Todd & Bard

1902 Elementary School Journal ad for Mabie Todd and Bard Swan Fountain Pen

MacKinnon

1878 Manufacturer and Builder Mag ad-like, short article on a new fountain pen design by MacKinnon

Moore's (American Fountain Pen Co.)

1910 Elementary School Journal ad for Moore's Non-leakable Fountain pen

Another 1910 Elementary School Journal ad for Moore's Non-leakable Fountain Pen

Morse

1868 Scientific American ad for Agents Wanted to sell the Morse Fountain Pen - 3 pages with one dipping!

Moseley

1859 pen review in Living Age Magazine of Moseley's Patent Fountain Pen

Parker

1898 Harpers Mag Lucky Curve ad

Prince's Protean Fountain Pen (John S. Purdy Mfg)

1856 New Englander and Yale Review pen review of the new Prince's Protean Fountain Pen

1863 American Cyclopaedia article on pens, describes how gold pens are made and mentions Prince's Protean Fountain Pen

1869 Appletons Journal ad for Prince's Improved Protean Fountain Pen

1881 American Missionary Magazine ad for Prince's Improved fountain pen

Queen

1890 pen review in Manufacturer and Builder of the Queen Fountain Pen with a Morton Nib

1890 Scribner's ad for the Queen Fountain Pen

C. B. Rowley

1887 Scribner's ad for 14k gold fountain pen, writes 10,000 words

Shipman

1889 Scribner's ad for Shipman fountain pen

1890 Century Magazine ad for Shipman fountain pen plus three cool typewriter ads

1890 Scribner's ad for Shipman fountain and stylographic pens

1890 Scribner's ad for Shipman spiral feed fountain pens

1891 Scribner's Magazine Shipman ad

1891 Scribner's ad for Shipman

1892 Scribner's ad for Shipman

Star (J. Ullrich Mfg)

1888 Overland Monthly ad for Star Fountain Pen

1888 Scribner's ad for Star Gold Fountain Pen (agents wanted)

Waterman

1885 American Missionary ad for Waterman Ideal Fountain Pen

1887 History of the New York Stock Exchange ad for Waterman Ideal

1888 Scribners ad for Waterman Ideal, and mentions the Ideal Pocket pen holder/case

1888 Scribners full-page Christmas ad for Waterman Ideal

1889 Century Magazine ad for Waterman Ideal

1889 Scribners ad for Waterman Ideal

1890 Century Magazine ad for Waterman Ideal "Old Reliable"

1890 Scribners ad For Christmas Waterman Ideal

1890 Scribners ad for Waterman Ideal "Old Reliable"

1891 Scribners ad for Waterman Ideal "Old Reliable"

1891 Scribners full-page ad for Waterman Christmas

1892 Scribners full-page ad for Waterman Christmas

1892 Scribners Waterman Idea ad with spiral shape pen

1893 Century Magazine ad for Waterman Ideal "A Sound Business Principle"

1893 Scribners ad Waterman Ideal "the Pleasure of Writing"

1895 Harpers ad for Waterman "Why Waste Time"

1896 Century Magazine ad Waterman "Do you know?"

1896 Harpers ad "Why Waste Time"

1896 Scribners ad "Thousands have declared"

1897 Century Magazine ad Waterman Why "Ideal"? claims largest FP mfg in the world

1897 Century Magazine ad Waterman "Points"

1897 Harper's ad "Best Things"

1897 Harper's ad Waterman Ideal

1898 Harpers ad for Waterman Ideal

1898 Atlantic Monthly ad "Always All Write" with overlay pens

1898 Century Magazine "The Best"

1898 Century Magazine full-page "Always All Write"

1898 Harpers Waterman "Don't Dip and Waste Time" ad

1898 Harpers Waterman Christmas ad

1899 Michiganensian Waterman ad

1899 Century Magazine ad for Waterman Ideal

1900 American Review Waterman "Paris Gold Medal" ad

1900 American Review Waterman "A Gift" ad

1900 Atlantic Monthly Waterman "A Christmas Tip" ad

1903 Michigenansian (Univ. of Michigan) Waterman "Honors for Graduates" ad

1904 Elementary School Journal Waterman full-page "Travel" ad

1904 Michigenansian (Univ. of Michigan) Waterman "School and College" ad

1906 Michigenansian (Univ. of Michigan) Waterman "Standard of Excellence" first one with a clip

1907 Michigenansian (Univ. of Michigan) Waterman "The World's Greatest Writers" ad

Weller

1865 Scientific American short article on the "Improved Fountain Pen" pat'd Sept 29, 1863 by Jos Weller

Wirt

1888 Illustrated New York full page ad HM Smith gold pens agent for Paul Wirt FP

1889 Scribners Paul Wirt ad

1890 Scribners Paul Wirt ad

1890 Scribner's Paul Wirt ad "350,000 in use!"

1891 Scribner's Mag Paul Wirt ad

1891 Scribner's Mag Paul Wirt ad (another)

1892 Scribner's minimal ad for Paul Wirt

1902 Elementary School Journal Paul Wirt ad

Wizard Ink Tablets

1902 Elementary School Journal ad for Thomas A. Edison Jr. Chemical Co. ink tablets

Assorted Other References

17th-century use of the term from a book added to the UofM library

1751 use of the term. In an 1857 issue of Putnam's Monthly it lists a student's inventory from 1751

1830's Joseph Saxton invented a fountain pen (from a biographical encyclopedia)

1839 Princeton Review uses "fountain pen" to refer to a prolific writer

1846 Scientific American - White's Fountain Pen seeking a patent

1847 Scientific American - Claim by Walter Hunt of a filling tube of graduated capacity, seeking a patent

1848 Scientific American - Lyman and Baldwin patent Sept 19 1848 of a rubber sac to hold the ink in a pen

1849 Scientific American - E. Jordan claims an improvement on a continuous feed of ink to the pen from the "fountain"

1852 Scientific American - Chas Cleveland claims improvements to valves in a FP for the admission of air and regulating the ink flow

1853 Scientific American - in response Mr. J. McC. of NY, They have a fountain pen in their possession imported from England in 1846 that's constructed along your lines. In other words, what you're claiming in your "improvements" have been around since 1846. And this shows they had a fountain pen made in England in 1846.

1855 Scientific American - announcing "last week" a patent was award to HK McClellan for a rubber sac to hold the ink, and a small piece of sponge to act as a feed.

Edited June 26, 2015 by AAAndrew

June 26, 2015

Thanks for taking the time and effort to compile and post all this valuable information. It is appreciated.

--Daniel

June 26, 2015

I hope it's at least interesting, if not useful. It was a labor of fascination. I'm happy to add others if people send me the links.

Oh, and if you find mistakes in links, or whatever, just let me know. This was a lot of back and forth and I'm sure I got confused in places.

Edited June 26, 2015 by AAAndrew

June 26, 2015

Mabie Todd & Bard
1902 Elementary School Journal ad for Mabie Todd and Bard Swan Fountain Pen

That's a good 'un!

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this, AAAndrew; much appreciated.

June 30, 2015

The universities of Michigan and Cornell have collaborated for years on a project to digitize, and convert the images into searchable text, the contents of a tremendous amount (tens-of-thousands) of 19th-century books and magazine articles. They can be found at the University of Michigan Making of America site, and the Cornell University Making of America site.

Last year I did a search for the term "fountain pen" and gathered a number of images resulting from that search. Many are advertisements, but some are short articles about fountain pens. I have also compiled under "Assorted" some references to the term "fountain pen" and the use of fountain pens outside these contexts.

I hope you enjoy them and find them interesting. The quality of the image is highly dependent upon the original scan. I have shrunk them somewhat, but not by a lot. And I'm sure if you dig you can find a whole lot more I didn't just from the simple search of "fountain pen."

-[sNIPPED]-

Many thanks for this. Just had a look at one or two and they are a really fascinating read.

Thanks again.

June 30, 2015

Fascinating!

I was looking at this: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1435335062__1868_scientific_american_ad_for_agents_wanted_to_sell_morse_fountain_pen.jpg

Below the Emerson's Circular Saws Patent, you have an ad for,

"3000 to 5000 USD wanted to construct an aerial car"

June 30, 2015

Man, they've been looking to build the flying car for a while. Of they're looking for a cable car. But in Flint, there are no mountains more than 50 feet or so, which kind of leaves off the cable car. Hmmmmm.

I love the old ads. I would love to find out more about Shipman. About all I think I know is that Asa Shipman loaned LE Waterman some money early on and Waterman sold his pens out of the back of Shipman's store for a while. But after a falling out Shipman ended up with one of Waterman's patents and began selling the pens himself. These must be the "Spiral Feed" pens that have so many advertisements.

I can't seem to find any info on Shipman beyond that. I also can't seem to find a picture of one of the pens. Anyone?

July 5, 2015

I love these old ads. But as I was reading the reviews and other articles, I began to miss the fact that I never knew the days where magazines had more words than pictures, and the articles were well written and informative.