Cannon pencil

I've never heard of T.K. Pencil Company of Osaka Japan, though Pencil Pages lists the name under existing pen and pencil manufacturers. This pencil was discovered in an old box and got Palimpsest puzzled about its origins. 

Ink a Day: Shaws Inks Are the Best!

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.

Ink a Day: P & J Arnold

Arnold's ink glass bottle. Private collection.

The scant online sources refer to P & J Arnold as a business established in 1724 in Aldersgate Street, London. Arnold, who were Henry Stephens' (of famous Stephens' Ink) competitors, produced "Arnold's blue-black Chemical Writing Fluid." Arnold's ink came in large stoneware made by J. Bourne & Son in Derby, such as the one shown here, and later on also in glass bottles. Arnold's merged with Stephens in 1942 after their works in Aldersgate were bombed. In 1967 both P & J Arnold and Henry C. Stephens Ltd were acquired by the Royal Sovereign Company.

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.

Arnold's ink glass bottle. Private collection.

Arnold's ink glass bottle. Private collection.

Arnold's ink patented bottle c. 1910. Source: eBay.

Samuel Beckett's doodles

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.

The Pen of Kate Chopin

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.

Old Waterman ink writing samples

Waterman Washable blue

Waterman Ideal red

Waterman brown