Collector's Bookshelf

Online resources are great, but there's still no substitute for a good book.  And in contrast to the situation not so many years back, there is now a broad selection of excellent reference works for the collector of old writing implements.  Don't skimp on your library: even the most expensive books cost no more than a lower-to-middle-range fountain pen, and you will find that good books soon pay for themselves – both in monetary terms, and in terms of depth of appreciation and enjoyment.

Most of the books listed below are being offered through Amazon.  For full price and shipping information on these titles, click on the order buttons.  If you are shopping for other titles, whether pen-related or not, you can help support this website by using this link to reach Amazon's home page.

Don't forget that photocopies of original catalogs, repair manuals, and other pen company literature are available at modest cost through the PCA Reference Library, while other reference material has been made available in color reproduction by individual collectors such as Bill Acker.

An essential reference work for American pens is George Fischler and Stuart Schneider's massive Fountain Pens and Pencils: The Golden Age of Writing Instruments – not cheap, but an investment that will quickly pay for itself.  Solidly researched with extensive color illustrations and a quite good price guide.  Sometimes called the "Blue Book" (from its dust jacket color), this volume should be on every pen collector's reference shelf.  If you have to have only one pen book, this is probably the one. 9" x 12", 320 pages, 970 color photos, hardcover.  Second revised edition, 1998.

Fischler and Schneider's second opus, The Book of Fountain Pens and Pencils (also known as the "Brown Book") is another massive volume packed with information and color illustrations.  It is basically a supplement to the first volume – useful, but not essential. Our advice: get the Blue Book first.  Includes price guide and sections on advertising, decoration, and repair. 9" x 12", 276 pages, illustrations of over 700 pens & pencils, hardcover.

A truly important work and a must for pencil collectors is Deb Crosby's pioneering Victorian Pencils: Tools to Jewels (Schiffer, 1998).  This is a heavily-illustrated hardback which covers a great deal of new material, incorporating much original research.   It has already had a significant impact on the collecting of pencils and dip pens. Includes pricing information.  8 1/2" x 11", 706 color photos, 224 pages, hardcover.

Paul Erano's first pen book was a bare-bones paperback with an innovative approach to helping readers understand what features make certain pens more or less appealing to collectors.  The same practical attitude informs his Fountain Pens: Past & Present (now in its second edition), which many collectors swear by. 287 pages, heavily illustrated in color, hardbound, with price guide.

Another economical volume is Jonathan Steinberg's Fountain Pens: A Collector's Guide. Full of beautiful illustrations, this book by and large showcases the rarest and most exotic. No price guide, but the book is worth it for the pictures alone. This book was hard to locate for a while due to disputes between author and publisher over reprintings, but should now be available once again.

Andy Lambrou's 1995 Fountain Pens of the World is lavishly illustrated, and covers penmakers across the world nearly up to the present day.  Full of information, but a bit weak on the smaller US brands.  No price guide.

David and Mark Shepherd's Parker "51" is a model monograph on what is arguably the most successful pen design of all time.  Exhaustive original research, comprehensive illustrations, and an elegantly clear layout.  Privately published at the end of 2004, it is an absolute must for any pen collector's library.  22 x 28.5 cm, over 700 photos, 169 pages, hardbound.

Jim Marshall's Pens & Writing Equipment: A Collector's Guide is a 100 page pocket-sized paperback, part of Miller's Collector's Guides series. Written from an English perspective, it covers a great range of material including dip pens, quill cutters, and the like.  Concise and informative with good illustrations, all for under $10!  Excellent value.

A handy book originally published in the UK is Alexander Crum Ewing's The Fountain Pen: A Collector's Companion. This handsomely illustrated guide's primary focus is on modern pens, but there is considerable information on vintage as well, including illustrations and discussion of early specimens not readily found elsewhere.

Ballpoint pen collectors have pretty much been left out in the cold, but there's now a book co-written by Henry Gostony and Stuart Schneider and published by Schiffer: The Incredible Ball Point.  A comprehensive history with plenty of colorful details about the mad rush to riches occasioned by the ballpoint's initial introduction, the crash that followed, and the subsequent developments that led to the ballpoint's present market dominance.  Heavily illustrated, with price guide.  8 1/2" x 11", 469 color photos, 160 pages, softcover.

Fischler and Schneider's The Illustrated Guide to Antique Writing Instruments is an affordable pocket-sized paperback that is particularly handy as a take-along price guide.  Coverage of pens and pen history is, however, rather less than comprehensive, so don't shortchange your enjoyment of pen collecting by making this your only reference book. Revised 3rd edition, 6" x 9", 556 color photos, 160 pages, softbound.

A fascinating book for anyone interested in the history of writing is engineer Henry Petroski's The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance.   The focus here is not on elaborately decorated instruments so much as ordinary workaday pencils -- their manufacture, technology, and social history.  Recommended reading and a great gift for anyone who writes. Available in hardcover or paperback

Bonhams pen auction catalogs: Useful references, we have a small quantity from various sales available at $20 each. Most are no longer available from Bonhams; most have prices realized, but in any event this information can always be obtained directly from the auction house.

OUT OF PRINT SPECIAL: This 12 page magazine-size publication was the illustrated checklist for a 1994 exhibition of Italian vintage pens in Milan.  Text in Italian, half of the pages with color pictures; a useful reference for the price. $6 postpaid in the USA, shipped at cost abroad.

Luca De Ponti's study, La storia dell'Aurora dal 1919 ai giorni nostri/The Story of Aurora from 1919 to the Present (Milan, 1995), is extensively illustrated and has text in both Italian and English. Distribution is a bit hit or miss, but copies can be ordered directly from the publishers, who also put out the magazine Penna.

Emilio Dolcini's monograph on what must be the most famous of Italian penmakers belongs to the same series as the Aurora volume above, and adheres to the same high standards of research and production. OMAS: La storia di una grande casa italiana e dell'intera sua produzione/The history of an important Italian firm and its entire production can be ordered directly from the publishers, as noted above.

Enrico Bettazzi and Letizia Jacopini, Tibaldi: A Story of Fountain-Pens and Men (Allemandi, 1998) is a 176 page hardback that proudly carries on the Italians' lead in thoroughly-researched monographic studies of individual pen manufacturers.  In English.

Alex Fortis, Antonio Vannucchi, and Antonio Fedeli, Fountain Pens/Penne stilografiche (Bella Cosa Library, 1995), paperback.   Economical and full of useful illustrations, light on the text (English/Italian), a nice pocket-sized survey book.

There isn't much in print on inkwells; Veldon Badders, however, has written two useful paperback volumes: The Collector's Guide to Inkwells: Identification & Values (1995); Book II of the same title is illustrated at left (1997). Book I (175 pp.)    Book II (256 pp.)

Regina Martini, Pens and Pencils: A Collector's Handbook (revised edition, 1998), paperback. Many illustrations of secondary brands, especially German and British (the book was originally written in German, and the translation is at times a bit awkward).  Price guide unreliable, as is much of the pen company history.  

Dietmar Geyer, Collecting Writing Instruments: From the Flint Tool to the Stylus, From the Quill Pen to the Fountain Pen and Felt-Tip Marker (Schiffer, 1990), 176 pages, hardcover.  An enjoyable, heavily-illustrated book that touches on a rather range of material.  Originally in German, with a correspondingly European focus.

Glen Bowen, Collectible Fountain Pens: Parker, Sheaffer, Wahl-Eversharp, Waterman (revised edition, 1996), paperback.  Not expensive, but this volume, originally published in 1982, is showing its age.  Coverage is less than comprehensive, and nearly all illustrations are black and white. 

Giorgio Dragoni and Giuseppe Fichera, Fountain Pens : History and Design (1998).   Hardcover, 192 pages; some nice illustrations, especially of Italian pens not often seen, but text is riddled with errors and attribution of some pens is entirely mistaken.

Interested in real old-time calligraphy, including the use of quill and reed pens and the application of gold leaf to vellum?  Edward Johnston's classic Writing & Illuminating & Lettering has been in print for decades for good reason, and is currently available as a thick but reasonably-priced Dover paperback.

Having trouble finding out about the technical aspects of the illustration of manuscripts?  Jonathan J. G. Alexander's  Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work (Yale, 1994) is the definitive scholarly study, now available in a high-quality university press paperback edition.  Recommended to anyone with an interest in medieval manuscripts.

Unfortunately, a number of fine reference books are out of print or are simply rather difficult to locate.  A real favorite is the handsome Une affaire de stylos, by Pierre Haury and Jean-Pierre Lacroux – available in English as A Passion for Pens (the Italian edition is La seduzione delle stilo). Lots of beautiful photos, a great range of pens and accessories, plus an excellent section on filling mechanisms. The text can be variable, but what pictures!  No price guide.

The official history of Cross by Barbara Lambert, Writing History: The A.T. Cross Company and the Making of a New England Industry, is an exemplar of incisive and professional scholarship.  Few amateur pen historians have attempted even a fraction of the original research that went into this book.

For early writing instruments, you can't do better than Michael Finlay's scholarly Western Writing Implements in the Age of the Quill Pen (Carlisle, 1990), published at £37.50 but now long out of print.  For the time being, there is a small stock of copies still available through Jim Marshall in the UK.

If you are interested in an engineer's authoritative analysis of how pens work, Geoff Roe's slim volume entitled Writing Instruments: A Technical History & How They Work (Manchester, 1996) is what you need. No vague, improvised explanations here. Available through the Writing Equipment Society.

Although it is now out of print, watch out for The 1992 Official PFC Pen Guide. A dense compilation of black & white illustrations, it is very useful for pen identification but cannot be relied upon as a price guide, even for relative values. Many general antiques dealers still have this book and price their pens accordingly. Note that this can cut both ways.

Periodicals are also an important reference resource; older issues often contain articles and illustrations available nowhere else.  Click here for more information.

For more on other reference resources, click here