 | I've been thinking about fountain pens and why they hold such a peculiar attraction for me. I like them all on general principles, and many of the new ones are aesthetically and mechanically amazing, but my very favorites are the Big Reds, Mandarin Yellow, and Vacumatic Parker Pens of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Why fountain pens in general, and these models in particular? Many reasons might be relevant, but these spring to mind:
Mainly, I think it's the first two reasons though honesty won't let me deny the rest. I've been deeply involved in computing for something over 30 years. That's a lot of tech that's come and gone - some good and some less so. I cut my teeth on a GE timeshare system and paper tapes, and went on to DEC PDPs, Hollerith cards, Unisys Multics mainframes, IBM mainframes, 9 track tapes, DEC VAX/VMS's, several generations of Crays, Silicon Graphics and Unix workstations of all brands and flavors, Macs, PCs, and several specialty computers that were specific to work I was doing. In turns I was passionate about each one - staying up to date with the latest Beta releases of operating systems and applications and the fastest hardware. The Good News is I've grown up a bit and lost my zealous advocacy for the latest and greatest, though for professional reasons, I have to keep up with the curve. Over the past few years I've become increasingly agnostic about what I use now - I just want it to work, to be secure, and to be reasonably low maintenance. Along with that personal trend toward more a more functional and less branded approach, I seem to have developed a respect for older and frequently elegant technologies that still work well in an increasingly digital gadget oriented world. Such tools are nearly always optimized in some way so that, despite the passage of time and "progress" in the way of "better widgets", they remain exemplars of utility and unplanned for obsolesence. Maybe it's a natural part of the aging process but I'm thinking I'm not the only one wending my way in this direction if my peers are any clue. The jury remains out on whether other geeks gravitate this way as they hit middle age. All that aside, fountain pens seem to be one of those shining examples of perfected technology, even if in a relatively small way. They were a quantum leap above the quills and dip pens and yet still provide a superior experience to the trivially inexpensive ball pens that ultimately crowded them out. It's a personal theory that using a hand manipulated implement granted the required bit of mindfulness that let the idea be more fully articulated before it hit the page. Countless other formerly hand done technical tasks, from drawing flowcharts to drafting building plans have now been automated using computers, all during my lifetime. Faster? Cheaper? Better? Probably all true and many without doubt easier and more capable, but the nagging thought persists that the mindful moment, whether spent aligning celluloid triangles or inking the fountain pen, gave enough pause to do it right the first time and express the idea with clarity and vigor. At any rate, that beauty on the left is a 1929 Parker Big Red with an extra fine nib. It's the apple of my eye, having been The One I've wanted for many years. I keep it filled with a dark grey ink that it lays down back down - without pressure - in a thin, wet line that dries quickly in my Moleskines. It's such a sensuous pleasure, that keyboarded words created by glowing electrons completely fail to capture it. |
Not sure of providence or copyright of this photo; please let me know if it needs to be removed.
