What a delight it is to write today’s AnchoredScraps.com blog post showcasing Paul’s “Fountain Pen Journal” & his book,”Fountain Pens Past & Present” by Paul Erano!

There it has been sitting on my book case the hard back book on fountain pens and it is by Paul Erano.    This is the same bookcase where I had photographed and blogged about back in March for “Dappled Morning Sun” – the book is entitled Fountain Pens Past & Present by Paul Erano (2004).  I picked it up over five years ago at the Raleigh Pen Show and it is autographed by Paul.    If you are interested in getting your own copy, the book is Temporarily Out of Print but I was about to find it available on Amazon.

It was a delight to email Paul Erano in preparation for this blog post and all images shown today are with his permission.  Thank you Paul!

If you have had an interest in learning more about fountain pens, or already have an established heart fluttering affection for them and use them, you will find the issues of Paul’s Fountain Pen Journal to be a delight to pour over and read.    These issues are works of art!   On June 17th I saw on Twitter where Volume 3 will be coming out soon and if you do not have a subscription you need to get one – to which I was able to subscribe.  It was surprising how fast my first two issues arrived in the mail:  Volume 1, Issue 1 (Fall 2014), and Volume 1, Issue 2 (Winter 2015).

Volume 1, Issue 1 (Fall 2014)

In Volume 1, Issue 1 we are welcomed to the Premiere issue of Paul’s Fountain Pen Journal.  It is explained that it is the successor to Erano’s Quarterly Pen Review (EQPR) being back after a several year hiatus.   It is to be mailed out at three regular intervals during the year.  The articles are accompanied with beautiful photos of the fountain pens in the articles.

In Issue 1 his article on What We Choose to Write With has him sharing his observations about straddling both worlds of balancing the fountain pen writing experience and with the times that a laptop for certain tasks just makes more sense.  He concludes the article with admitting both versions of that essay (as it is an updated essay in this issue) were composed entirely on a keyboard.     The In Memoriam about Peter Miller submitted by two of his friends is beautifully done remembering and honoring his memory in the pen community.

Volume 1, Issue 2 (Winter 2015)

Attribution: Upper left image of cover of Paul’s Fountain Pen Journal, Volume 1, Issue 2 is shown with permission of the Author.   In Volume 1, Issue 2 the article on V-Mail (a revised version from a 2010 article written by John Danza and published in the Writing Equipment Society).   It shares with us how the US during World War II handled the abrupt ramp-up of armed forces and turned to Kodak for help with how to get mail to everyone and handle the bulkiness.   It includes fantastic photos in the article about the Kodak’s Recordak microfilm system, now renamed V-Mail (‘the letters that travel on film’) by the U.S. government.   The process is even described of how the letter-size piece of pager gets photographed onto Kodak microfilm and then later reconstituted into letters – and remember this was around 1942 technology.    The article even includes ads from during that time promoting the use of V-Mail, including an add by Sheaffer’s for their V-mail writing kit.  I’m going to be bringing this issue to my local Stamp Club meeting next week to share and to see if any of my philatelic buddies recall these kinds of letters (we do have a few older members!) The other articles in the issue are wonderful and again the photography is beautiful of these different fountain pens inspiring me to stake out a Pen Show for later in 2015 to attend!  His article on “What’s In Your Pocket?” is written to prompt us to realize that with a little bit of thinking we can elevate what we carry on us for writing when out and about.  It is a great article.

These issues help me feel like I can learn more about fountain pens and will be welcomed!  Both issues talk about The Black Pen Society which was fun reading about and I liked that the group is inclusive and notes it is not too late to participate with the group.  This is a golden opportunity to subscribe now and get caught up with these first two issues and anticipate along with me and others the soon to arrive Issue 3!

Here’s to our looking at what we use when writing our letters!

Anchors Aweigh,  

Helen