A good fountain pen is a piece of precision engineering and design that can serve you well for many years. But do you really need to part with hundreds of dollars to get one?

The Joy of Using a Fountain Pen In our digital world, it forces you to slow down with your thoughts. By Sameer Butt. Jan 19, 2025 9:30 AM. Photo illustration by Slate.

T-shirts at the show read, “My fountain pen scoffs at your subpar writing instrument,” and “Don’t touch my nibs.” Companies had names such as Pendemonium and Penquisition.The DC Metro ...

And in another mention of Montblanc, a collector from Cape Town, South Africa, says, “My everyday-use fountain pen is a Montblanc StarWalker, which I bought in St.-Malo, France, in 2003.It ...

In an era of digital overload, many professionals are rediscovering the art of writing with style and function.

A fountain pen, to me, was something people used for actual calligraphy. I knew fountain pens were part of the whole Classic Man thing that Esquire is built on, but I tapped out at buying a nice suit.

The fountain pen’s clip, as Pelikan aficionados are well aware, is in the shape of a stylized pelican’s beak—a visual play on words dating to the company’s earliest years.

I nabbed another fountain pen quickly after college and used it daily for a few years. But it was when I turned 30 that I found my pride and joy: the Lamy 2000.

My fountain pen is a modern one, and probably not a great representation of the typical pens of the 1940s—but it still has some of the troubles that plagued the fountain pens and quills of old.

For Rob Franciosi, coming to the fountain pen later in scholarly life has been a revelation. For the past two years, during the twilight of my academic career, I have become a devotee of the fountain ...