Customer Reviews

Fountain Pens and Pencils : The Golden Age of Writing Instruments

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very good book for the serious collector. The price may seem high but for the wealth of information it provides it is a bargain. This is a new addition with the principle difference over the last addition being updated prices...some of which seem out of line high. Good illustrations. Not every color of a particular model may be represented but they do pretty well trying. Overall, I highly recommend it especially for the new collector.

Simply put, this book is an essential item for any serious fountain pen enthusiast or collector. To the best my knowledge, only Andreas Lambrou's Fountain Pens of the World compares (or even surpasses it, actually) in scope and depth, and Lambrou's book is twice the price.

Nor is this book limited to the seasoned expert; I first read it as an utter novice and found it delightfully accessible (the plentiful color photos go a long way here.) The only caveat is that - as mentioned by another reviewer - the suggested prices seem very high; it might be a mistake for a neophyte to base purchasing decisions on the listings in this book.

Pass up that aero-filler 51 or that unrestored blurrily-photographed vac major, for the time being, and pick up a copy of this book instead. In the long run, it's a far better investment if you are truly interested in vintage fountain pens.

George Fischler and I wrote this book. Our publisher wanted the best book on fountain pen collecting. We included photos of every pen that was available to us, which totaled over 1,000 vintage pens - from the best and rarest to the unusual, inexpensive, and collectible. Our book has sold over 22,000 copies worldwide, which is pretty amazing considering its price. We wanted to give the beginning collector a must-have resource and the advanced collector a reference work that would identify nearly every pen that could be found in the US. We were encouraged to do a second book "The Book Of Fountain Pens & Pencils" to include interesting and rare pens that were not included in "The Golden Age". Bill Cosby held our book up on the David Letterman show and stated that it was the best book that he had ever read. High praise indeed! The book is now in a third edition with updated prices and more photos. If you only had one book as a reference, this should be your top choice. I think that the more books you have on a subject makes you a better collector. At an antique show, a collector showed us his newest, expensive purchase - a Waterman 100 Year pen. It was all wrong. Sort of a mish-mash of pen parts. Had he looked in our book, he would have seen what the pen should look like. The money he spent on this "parts" pen would have more than been saved by buying a good reference work about pens. Even if you don't buy our book first, spend a few dollars on pen books and save yourself from buying an overpriced dog. Good hunting!

I purchased this book for my husband for fathers day and he loved it. There were so many pictures. We could not wait to see if any of his collection was in the book. If you are a pen collector, this is definately the book to have.

Andre'a

It is a big book with lots of information. Not a book for casual collectors. However it is "a must have" book for serious collectors. The first few chapters are especially very useful as they describe essential aspects of collecting pens and things to look for. They also tell the history and evolution of fountain pens. The history of the big pen companies are quite detail and of course there are lots and lots of beautiful photographs of the pens.