A review of the Pelikano Jr.
Submitted by kadymae on Fri, 2007-10-12 20:32.
Pelikano Jr. Review at Fountain Pen Network, has pictures, but is not 56k drip unfriendly.
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Pelikano Jr.
The Pelikano Jr. was my first fountain pen. I ended up getting four so I could have four different color inks at the same time. Of course that turned out to be just the beginning of my fountain pen acquisitions.
I bought one yesterday
I bought one yesterday evening, and like the feel of the pen in my hands, and also how the nib glides smoothly over the paper. Not scratchy at all.
I might go and get a couple more, for my stash of Private Reserve inks in different colours.
Interesting....
I recognize the style of pen. We have tons of such pens here in Krakow, but not being a native European, I've been curious. Why are fountain pens used to teach penmanship in Europe? This seems to be the case, and I don't understand the reasoning. Anybody have a guess?
-Jon
Just a guess
Because Europeans have more style than we Bic-using Americans?
--
Steff
[ blog | photos ]
European attitudes
There's more to your question than meets the eye. Something that links to the whole planner idea. I can't conceive of a European writing "Getting Things Done" or "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". These books seem to me to follow an Emersonian self-improvement ideal topped off with dewy-eyed Deweyian self-reflection. It's a cultural thing; our expectation is that things will last longer and take longer. For example, there are many buildings in my locality that are older than the nation of the United States. (I regular drive places where William Penn lived.) Buildings that are still lived in.
Perhaps the same is true of pens. The throw away Bic (bizarrely a French invention) is a cheap and inferior item compared to the fountain pen. With our long tradition of scriptoria and the excellence of penmanship the idea of using a biro for anything more than ephemera is abhorent. Any writing worth being called writing needs to be undertaken with a view to longevity --- and even to archaeologists shopping lists are important documents --- so why use a throw away implement.
Also there could be a more mundane third reason. Post-war austerity. I grew up in England just after rationing was stopped but goods were still in short supply well into the 1960s. At my first school we used fountain pens because they could easily be recycled, uh sorry, refilled. And when biros became more plentiful we were still expected to continue using a fountain pen because what we wrote was of some value.
cultural differences and pens
This could easily be a new topic but as you've mentioned it here ...
The influences of culture on penmanship and pens used are reflections of the cultures' approaches to life and thought. Fountain pens are relatively new technology for Europeans (ie. less than 300 years old) and are proven technology.
In big broad ~stereotypical~ generalisations:
Generally Europe has a very sensible "if it works and it's been proven to work why replace it unless there's something found to be lacking, wrong or polluting about it" approach to physical things and technology, which to me reflects a continent with layer upon layer of historical development across 2,500 plus years.
Generally the USA has a practical and competitive "we can do it better, faster, newer and cheaper so throw away that old thing" approach to physical things and technology, which to me reflects that the USA didn't really become one big country until the late 18th century at the beginning of the industrial revolution. And the industrial revolution was all about doing things better, faster, newer and cheaper.
Looking at my own country, generally Australia has a "it's going to take far too long or far too much money to import something that actually does the job - so let's take this old thing, some wire, a soldering iron and whatever we find in the garden shed and bung something together" approach to physical things and technology. This is mostly because until recently most things came to Australia by sea (often 6-9 MONTHS for delivery) and with a small population and few factories may things had to be imported, hand made or recycled by changing their purpose. This is changing now with cheaper imported goods from Asia. Also, the Aboriginal Australians have lived successfully here for 50,000+ years without houses, pens, paper, gadgets, telemarketing, etc, etc and there's a strong undercurrent in Australian society that we should be able to live without lots of stuff too.
Getting back to writing implements - at school here most children learn penmanship with lead pencils or biros (ball points), generally imported from Asia or made locally.
Before that it was pens with nibs (similar to a fountain pen but without the ink inside - instead it was dipped into an inkwell). When I went to school in the '70's and early '80's the school desks still had holes for the tiny pots of ink and the groove at the front of the desk for the child's only pen. I think the ink pots went out of use in the early '70's. Fountain pens were expensive imports and were only for adults and were often a 21st birthday gift.
For every broad
For every broad generalisation there is always an exception. Been a FP user since about the age of 10 except when practicalities made ballpoints the better solution and even then my BP would be more upmarket than an ordinary yellow Bic. Mostly the FP's were hand me downs from older relations. I recall an Osmiroid, a Conway Stewart and some Parkers though not the specific models. Now a Lamy user.
The heart would one day love to buy one of those $4-5K FP's but the head won't let it which sort of suggests another topic; Expensive Fountain Pens, worth it?.
Australia did manufacture its own FP called the "Dasi" from the late 1930's to the mid 70's. Check Ygor's friend for more info.
Those pens with nibs you dipped in ink were called dip pens BTW. The ink wells if I recall were ceramic pots about 5 cm/2 inches in length and a variable diameter between 12mm/ half inch to 25mm/ 1 inch and a flat collar about 5cm/2 inches in diameter so the pot section went thru the hole in the desk and the collar stopped it falling thru. When I was at school (before the 70's) I used both inkwells and bottled ink for my dip pen.
Bob H.
Thanks Bob
Thanks Bob
But generalisations are such fun as I don't have to think deeply about anything :)
Although I do think that I'm heavily influenced by the stereotypes for Australia I mentioned - I'd rather have a planner I made myself that looks like it came off the set of Mad Max (The Road Warrior, for US readers) than a nice shiny gadget for planning. ;)
Seriously, yes Australia did make it's own fountain pens but the nice, shiny, 'I have a real pen now' fountain pens were certainly imported. My father was an accountant and was told on his first day to get a 'proper imported' pen. (Good old cultural cringe at work).
My mother remembers in highschool she always wanted to sit at a seat where there wasn't a boy in the seat behind her. Some of the boys in her class thought it was fun to dip any girl's hair in the ink pot.
I'm not sure if my mother's lighter hair made her a more satisfying target or if highschool was just boring in the '50's. :)
Edit
P.S. I believe that dip pens were also used at school because fountain pens can be made to squirt ink like a waterpistol. That would be just too tempting for some children
I have heard of the hair in
I have heard of the hair in inkwell trick but do not recall any actual events from my school days. Having said that, my first born decided to test the sharpness of his scissors on the hair of the girl who sat in front of him when he was in year 1. Fortunately, nothing catastrophic resulted and her parents were understanding.
Bob H.
Mad Max's Planner --
I can just imagine how it reads:
Today's appointments::
8:00 Scavenge for breakfast.
9:00 Fight off tribe of feral bikers.
9:30 Splint own leg with wrench. (Hope I don't need it for the car too soon.)
10:00 Drain gas from the tanks of the few bikes that didn't explode.
11:00 Stare broodingly out over wasteland.
12:00 Split can of dog food with dingo.
1:00 Drive nowhere at high speed for three hours.
4:00 Urgently scavenge for gasoline.
5:00 Fight off crazed man in gyrocopter.
6:00 Stare broodingly at sunset.
Today's To Dos:
Copy all today's appointments to tomorrow.
BTW, was that a dingo he had?
Now that is a plan
Makes my own day look rather dull, yet purposeful.
Wandering
yes, we've all wandered way off topic but I can't complain because I'm laughing too hard.
Thanks SusanBeth, your comments have given me a smile for the start of the work week.
(And yes, that was a dingo).
Hmmm, that's an idea for a humour column .... fictional characters' planners. ;D
Fictional characters' planners
It does sound amusing. Go for it!
Let's see....who would be suitable?
Katrina, You write that
Katrina,
You write that column... we'll publish it. PM me for details.
Awesome brainstorming you two!
/innowen
I know of many fountain pen
I know of many fountain pen users that swear using a fountain pen improved their handwriting. It IS easier to make horrible swoops when using liquid ink (this is also true of rollerballs) if you are not careful and don't lift the pen enough between letters, for example. So I guess the idea is that using an FP forces you to slow down and concentrate on your writing. A nice idea, except for those of us who just write fast anyway and leave a trail of smudgy chicken scratch in our wake! Oh well.
In addition, maybe they feel the kids take it more seriously using a "real" pen? I mean, I think a lot of the time American kids are like "wow, awesome pen!" Of course, perhaps it's just novelty; European kids may do the same with a click Bic. And to Americans, a fountain pen is often "one of those calligraphy pens" or "one of those old-fashioned pens" (or, if they're REALLY clueless, "one of those old-fashioned pens like you dip in an inkwell" and then you have to explain to them that nope, it's self-filling, a bit newer than a quill pen, folks!). So that might be what holds the appeal for American kids too. At any rate, I know *I* like to do my important writing with an FP, or at the very least, a rollerball so it looks nice (I've been known to rush around on my way out to a party or something searching for an FP to sign someone's wedding/birthday/baby card with...running all over the house looking high and low, making myself late, and on the way passing up a multitude of ballpoints!).
penmanship
Also because in much of North America penmanship is neither taught nor emphasized any longer. Sadly most school boards focus on word processing and neglect handwriting. Consequently most people under 30 here have almost indecipherable scripts.
I was taught penmanship in
I was taught penmanship in school...it's just that I was a hopeless case. :)