This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
While a good ‘ole biro is convenient and does its job perfectly well, there’s something ever so elegant about writing with a fountain pen. The conviction of the delicate nib against the paper, the flow of fresh ink across the page, the refined and polished look it can bring to your cursive. Yes, every writer should have a beautiful fountain pen to hand. These five picks range from the practical and affordable to the downright outrageous but beautiful. We can dream, can’t we?
1. Lightweight with a practical clip on its front, the Lamy Safari has been designed with daily use and thus durability in mind. If you haven’t written with a fountain pen since your school days of inky fingers, smudged exercise books and piles of pink blotting paper, this might be a good place (and price) to start. £16 from The Pen Shop.
2. Handcrafted in solid silver, this Viceroy Grand Victorian has all the features of an ornate Victorian treasure and would have you feeling every inch the real-life viceroy for sure. Stunning, if not a a tad out of our price range. £500 from Amazon.
3. Imagine all the invitations, thank you notes and hurried, secret love letters this vintage Waterman Lady Agatha fountain pen might have written in its time. Made in Paris and presented in its original case, it has an 18k gold tip and is £200 from JewelryWanderlust on Etsy.
4. Pastel pink with a nib in stainless steel, everything on the Parker IM Premium pen can be customised to suit its new owner from the casing finish to the nib’s writing style. £35 from Parker.
5. If you plan to make like Neil Gaiman and write all of your novels with a fountain pen, the 2000 has been Lamy’s flagship pen for over 50 years and is an excellent model. With its 14k gold, platinum-coated broad nib and fibreglass and brushed stainless steel body, this pen is so revered, it is on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has won countless design awards. £95 from The Goulet Pen Company.
What’s your writing instrument of choice?