Oct
2
Historical Writing Instruments Series: Introduction.
Filed Under Historical writing instruments, Writing
(Image by Caro Wallis)
When I posted a few days ago about a gold-nibbed Montblanc pen, I started wondering who and why had first decided that gold would be a good material for making pens.
I spent a few hours reading about history of writing implements, and soon it didn’t matter any more why I’d dived into this little research project in the first place.* I’ve found out some things I’d never given much thought to, but which make perfect sense.
For example, people throughout history used the writing materials which were convenient for their habitat: the Egyptians had abundant reeds, and thus used papyrus, while the Asia Minor city of Pergamum didn’t have the papyrus reeds growing anywhere near, but had plenty of cattle, and thus made parchment out of leather. This in turn survived better in the cold climate of Europe, and so its use stuck, while papyrus died out.
I’ve found too much interesting stuff to fit into one post, so I’m going to turn my findings into a series of articles. The first one is going to go up on Tuesday night, and will be about Sumerians, Babylonians, and stuff a clever scribe can do with clay.
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* Gold nibs? They’re for durability, apparently. Alternatively, a steel nib with an iridium tip can be used.
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