The History of the Feather Ink Pen
The feather ink pen, or feather quill, is known all over the world. It was developed from the reed pen, one of the most primitive writing instruments. The documents written with these pens include the Magna Carta, The Declaration of Independence and even The Bible.
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Feathers
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Ancient civilizations made pens out of sharpened reeds, but around 500 B.C. people began to use bird feathers. The wing feathers had to be used because the size of the shaft was larger than feathers from other areas of the bird. Feathers from geese were the best because they would hold the ink inside until pressure was put on the quill.
Construction
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Wing feathers would have a slit cut into them; this is where the ink would go, and it would come out the bottom. Then the point, or nib, would be sharpened to a fine point. Since all quills were made by hand, no two quills were ever exactly the same, which means no two quills had the same quality of writing.
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Stationary
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The word "stationary" comes from the word for the people who made feather quills: stationers. These were the people who would carve and shape the quills. They would slit the nib so the feathers could be used for writing, and sharpen the point of each feather.
Ink
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The ink for feather quills has varied over history. In ancient writings, the pigment carbon black was combined with liquids like water or oil to form black ink. The ink from octopuses and and squids was sometimes used as well. In early America, burnt lamp oil soot was occasionally used. It was combined with glue to make sticks, which would be watered down to create ink.
Metal Nibs
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The invention of the metal nib began the end of the feather quill, but many people continued to use quills because they were light and easy to maintain. Early versions of the metal nib also tended to leak more than the feather quill.
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References
- Photo Credit feather image by peter Hires Images from Fotolia.com
