THE PEN

Humanity’s symbiotic relationship with writing technology.

Another title in the author’s distinguished corpus, this book is a “history of an object” in its purest form, following the development of writing technology with bloodhound focus. The riveting first chapter describes Christie’s 2024 auction of the “oldest-known book in private hands.” Subsequent chapters continue the deft, witty combination of narrative, research, and personal account. Readers learn about quills, nibs, ink, blots, paper, sales figures, market shares, and manufacturing histories. The book pivots about halfway: After a succinct summary (“The quill was very slowly replaced by the steel-nibbed dip pen, and the steel-nibbed dip pen by the fountain pen”), it introduces the “two very distinct technologies [that] would now vie to disrupt this perennial flow of ink—the typewriter and the ballpoint.” These later discussions include important issues, such as plastic’s environmental impact, disposable culture, writing vs. typing, education, and the growing number of pen lovers and collectors. Entertaining topics, such as pens in film and espionage, as well as jewel-encrusted and bespoke pens, also receive much attention. In some places, the book raises questions without answering them. “Disposable culture” is lamented, for instance, but its difference from the “disposable culture” that used reeds (“as disposable as a Bic”) is unexamined. A little more on the “human” part of the pen’s history also would be welcome. Factory conditions for the humans producing those disposable pens are minimized (19th-century female nib makers faced “the occasional crushed finger or burn”) when mentioned at all. Keen analyses of advertising, such as the “Rocket in your pocket” campaign, do not consider gendered campaigns or products.

Reader beware: This book will make you want to rush out and buy a writing implement to cherish.