Friday, 23 October 2015
Thursday, 15 October 2015
Ink a Day: Shaws Inks Are the Best!
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Swaw's Ink bottle. Private Collection. |
Little known Shaws Ink is one of the oldest manufacturers doing business in London as far back as 1750. This octagonal ink bottle is not only embossed with the name of the firm but advertises it too: "Shaws Inks Are the Best." The bottle has the characteristic burst lip top - a result of 19th-century methods of glass making.
Henry Shaw set up business in the City of London in 1750 specialising in printing and book binding. The company is still in business today as Shaw & Sons producing stationery, professional forms, bespoke ceremonial items, election supplies and funeral products.
Sunday, 11 October 2015
Ink a Day: P & J Arnold
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Arnold's ink glass bottle. Private collection. |
The bottled pictured above would have come with a cork. The name Arnold's is embossed within an embossed scroll. Nice touch. Underneath the bottle the embossed number 3 denotes the number of fluid ounces contained within.
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Arnold's ink glass bottle. Private collection. |
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Arnold's ink glass bottle. Private collection. |
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Arnold's ink patented bottle c. 1910. Source: eBay. |
Friday, 9 October 2015
Samuel Beckett's doodles
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Samuel Beckett by Edmund Valtman |
"When inspiration ran low he had a tendency to do his little vignettes. He had a certain artistic talent. He did rather good little character sketches. They are there, I think, to keep the pen moving, and to stimulate the mind into more movement."
Samuel Beckett manuscript and doodles go on display by Tim Masters, BBC Entertainment & Arts, 9 June 1914.
Monday, 5 October 2015
The Pen of Kate Chopin
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Kate Chopin (1850-1904) author of The Awakening is considered a forerunner of feminism. |
O what a lovely pen - how I adore this quality. Can anyone explain to me how hairs and such rubbish get at the point of a pen and make one's writing - not already perfect - look like the trail of a spider with his legs dipped in ink. I see no hairs in the ink bottle none on the paper or pen - and still here are visible proofs of them. They are like Topsey they "growed."
Kate Chopin (born Kate O' Flaberty), Saturday May 8th 1869, Private Papers, ed. by Emily Toth, Per Seyersted, p. 84.
Saturday, 3 October 2015
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