I stood there for a moment thinking 'what a strange combination of things, what does it mean? haircuts and pens? haircuts and pens? haircuts and..' then decided it best to turn back and go inside as it was too intriguing not too.
I didn't get as far as the haircuts, they were upstairs, but the hallway to the stairs was lined down one side with glass cabinets packed full of what can only be described as a life's collection of 'penrobelia', a display dedicated to the almost lost art of letter writing.
Here are a selection of different width nibs, for ticket writing purposes only apparently.
A tiny bucket and spade......
...and this wee hat and brolly both conceal travel ink wells and dip pens. Nifty eh?
Everything had a super neat hand written label next to it. Are they her eyebrows? If so I think she is as surprised as I am as to see so much writing on such a small space, it must have been written with the very finest nib.
Very important to keep your nib clean when using a dip pen, so as to avoid any nasty splodges.
This Parker pen sign is a massive bulb! I wish I could have seen it lit up. It would be so nice to see things advertised like this now.
A lovely pink pen to celebrate, the then, Princess Elizabeth's birthday. It has a picture of her on it. In the foreground an 'Excellent Eraser' no less.
These wafers for sealing envelopes and the statement about them shows how even letter writing had it's hazards.
It makes you think 'One day will we stop handwriting letters? Will we eventually stop using pens all together?' All in all it is an amazing display and made all the better by it not featuring amongst the lists of local museums and collections, a real find!
If only we were taught the niceties of looking after a dip nib at school. When our handwriting in pencil was sufficiently proficient we were issued dip pens.
ReplyDeleteMy sister gave me my first fountain pen when I was about ten. A green Sheaffer. It was engraved with my name. She worked at a stationers and printers in Colchester. She had started humbly on the greeting cards counter and eventually was promoted to the much esteemed fountain pen counter.
So many poisons in the environment - except now they are very often hidden in the plastics we use every day.
What a delightful post, thank you.