Yes, people absolutely used pens 100 years ago (circa the 1920s and earlier). The dominant writing instrument of that era was the fountain pen, though dip pens were also still very common.
The first pen was invented by the Ancient Egyptians in 3200 BC out of bamboo or reed, and were referred to as reed pens. They could be dipped into ink and used on papyrus, a thicker version of paper made from the pulp of a papyrus plant.
The 1800s was a great century for advancements in medicine, social revolution and, of course, pens. The big thing in the 1800s was the fountain pen, which used a steel point and an inkwell. The late 1800s brought us a fountain pen with its own self-contained ink, which meant not having to dip the pen in an inkwell.
Dip pens were widely used well into the 20th century, only gradually being displaced with the development of fountain pens in the later 19th century, and are now mainly used in illustration, calligraphy, and comics.
The Reed Pen - 4th Century
The first citing of a pen dates back to the 4th century BC with the Ancient Egyptian scribes who would write hieroglyphics on papyrus. The Egyptians didn't favour a Parker 51, but rather a “Reed Pen”, a single piece of reed pointed into a square and split at the point.
The documents/samples of hands displayed here were written between 1500 and 1690, most or all of them with a goose-quill pen and an iron gall or carbon-based ink.
Quills and Reeds: The True Ancient Times
Monks and scribes used them to compose beautiful handwritten books and documents. The Egyptians and Romans before quills used reed pens, which were made from hollow plant stems. They were not as flexible and durable, but they sure did the job writing on papyrus or early paper.
Hemingway's favorite pen to use was a Montegrappa! When he was in the war, he was stationed by the original factory in Bassano del Grappa at Villa Ca Erizzo in Italy. Montegrappa actually has a a collection called "Mightier than the Sword", which was named after Hemingway to celebrate his relationship with them.
By 1912, U.S. production of pencils was 750 million and the world's production was 2 billion. Benjamin Ball made square leads for pencils in the mid-19th century. They were typically off-center and the wood cases were somewhat out-of-round.
Lewis Waterman of New York patented the first practical fountain pen in 1884 and in 1931, Hungarian Laszlo Biro invented the ballpoint pen — the writing implement of choice for most people today because of their neatness and reliability. The idea for the pencil came much later in human history and quite by accident.
Here's a general sense of what vintage fountain pens might be worth today: User-grade or mid-century mass market pens (e.g., basic Sheaffer school pens or lower-end Parkers): $20–$100. Popular collectible models in working condition (e.g., Parker Vacumatics, Esterbrook J series): $100–$300.
By the end of Victorian Times nearly all children got a chance to learn to read and write. They used a slate and chalk at first. Older pupils would use pens with a sharp metal nib to write on paper. The nib was dipped in a small pot filled with ink.
The first pen shape occurred in 3000BC in ancient Egypt. They used Reeds with a sharp point (like that of a nib) to write with. They used hard grasses, like Sea Rushes, sturdy enough to carve things out with, drying them out for days to get it right.
The lifespan of your pen will depend on its type, quality, and how often you use it, in addition to proper storage and environmental factors. While some pens last just a few months, others can last for years.
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Churchill used Onoto fountain pens throughout his life. During the First World War, when serving in the trenches, he even wrote to Clementine, saying: 'Send me a new Onoto pen. I have stupidly lost mine' (23 November 1915).
Albert Einstein used both a Pelikan 100 N and a Waterman Taper-cap Fountain Pen which he used to develop the Theory of Relativity. The Waterman pen is on display at the Boerhaave Museum in Leiden.
John F. Kennedy seems to have used a number of different pens: the Parker “45,” an Esterbrook fountain pen, and a Montblanc Meisterstück No. 149.
Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity that had to be periodically recharged by dipping the tip of the pen into an inkwell.
Quill pens were made from birds' wing feathers, usually geese. The number of quills required to keep an American colony writing was formidable, often numbering in the thousands for a writing master at a large school. Gum sandarac, harvested from an African tree, was used to prepare the paper to absorb ink more evenly.
Patents for the fountain pen began surfacing in the 1850s. Duncan Mackinnon, in the 1870s, created “stylographic pens with a hollow, tubular nib and a wire acting as a valve" (Server). Stylographic pens today are commonly used for technical drawing and drafting.
Only wealthy people of means got to use cloth, rags, wool, or cotton to wipe their bottoms in the Medieval Era . The majority of peasants had to make do grass, straw, moss, leaves, wooden sticks, wood shavings, or hay.
Some of the personal writing tools used in colonial America included quill pens, ink, journals, paper, stoneware inkwells, sealing wax (the idea of separate envelopes did not exist) and portable writing desks that could be placed on another table top or in the lap.
Secretary hand was the most widely used writing from the about 1525 to the mid-1600s. In the mid-1600's, English 'round hand' or 'mixed hand' became the common style. This is very similar to the cursive we are familiar with. Abbreviations were often used, and some Latin was used.