40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The ultimate book on fountain pens, October 11, 2000
This review is from: Fountain Pens of the World (Hardcover)
My love affair with fountain pens - particularly vintage fountain pens - entered a new stage the day that my copy of Lambrou's Fountain Pens of the World arrived. Covered with a gorgeous dust jacket, weighing in at several pounds and measuring 9" by 12.5", the book made an impression before the first page had even been turned.
This first impression, positive as it was, in no way prepared me for what I was to find inside: over four hundred pages with glorious color plates. Literally thousands of pens - mostly vintage - spectacularly photographed, and presented exactly life size. (Ever wonder whether your newly purchased vacumatic is a sub-deb, debutante, junior, slender, standard, major, oversized, or Maxima? Just lay it over the photographs in Lambrou's book!) Fascinating reproductions of vintage advertisements. Detailed histories - model by model - of all major manufacturers and many lesser-known ones, including Edward Todd, Triad, Diamond Point, Chilton, Stephens, Mentmore, Summit, Wyvern, Burnham, Soennecken, Osmia, Tropen, and so on and so forth, covering the U.S., the U.K., Germany France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan. The book is, plain and simple, a work of art and of incredible beauty. I could spend weeks just browsing its pages.
In retrospect, my biggest mistake in fountain pen collecting was to wait for several years before purchasing a copy of Lambrou's Fountain Pens of the World...
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buying this book enhanced the joy of pen collecting!, July 7, 2003
This review is from: Fountain Pens of the World (Hardcover)
I have always admired Lambrou's book, 'Fountain Pens of the World', but could not justify the price -- after all the cost of this book could go towards another fountain pen -- I WAS WRONG!!
I wished I bought my copy years ago, it would have saved me so much money in buying pens that were not exactly the model that the seller described (going to a few markets/pen shows and especially on-line auctions).
The history of pens from around the world is well documented. The pen manufacturers are grouped in chapters by country.
Every pen is life size. More than 2,300 pens are shown and the color representation is great. Even a Parker Snake, Aztec, Swastika, Forget-me-not and many, many more I just dream about! Only gripe -- no price list, but Lambrou states that people can abuse the information as the price list is only valid at the time of print.
To date, I 've yet to see any other book as well put together's as this one.
Don't use false economy like I did. Buy this book as soon as you can -- it gives many, many happy hours of pen collecting and reading!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The fountain pen bible, June 19, 2004
This review is from: Fountain Pens of the World (Hardcover)
This is it. If you buy only one book on fountain pens, or if you are serious about fountain pen collecting, this is THE book to get. Unfortunately, it is Really expensive. Look around for a used copy using the usual suspects on the Web. The photos are great and the captions clearly identify each pen shown. Numerous non-US pen companies are written about and many pens are pictured here and nowhere else (in other standard pen ID books). Highly recommended.
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