A History of Pens and Ink

A History of Pens and Ink

Pens, Paper and Ink: A Brief History of Writing

The very civilizing of the human race has been dependent upon our potential to carry and exchange our knowledge - and a large part of the prestige for that potential belongs to the pens, paper and ink that we have used to write with. From caveMen scribbling pictographs on walls with sharpened rocks to the contemporary writing instruMents that we use today, our fascination with these implements of expression is based not only on artistic endeavors, but necessity as well.

After obvious tribal groups had advanced their pictograph expressions into predictable and workable forms, humans began to advance more rapidly than ever before. This was directly because of their newfound capacity to keep records and spread wisdom. They were able to teach future generations the lessons that they had learned in their own lives. future leaders were able to learn more effective methods to hunt and acquire because of their wall pictures.

Now, sharpened stones and cave walls are a far cry from the precision pens and smooth-flowing ink used today, but all began somewhere.

As time passed, report keepers advanced more intricate systems of expression. Their symbols became more systematized and readable. When clay was discovered, population then had the capacity to take their symbolic writings with them, further spreading knowledge and advancing the race. Before pens, paper and ink were invented, early merchants would keep records of all items bought, sold and shipped on clay tokens with pictographs. Some of these clay tokens date back as far as 8500 B.C.! These pictographs lost their information over time and, through repetitive usage, they came to laid out vocalized sounds - spoken communication!

Somewhere in the middle of 1700 and 1800 B.C., the first alphabet was advanced in the Sinai Peninsula (notice the word "pen" there?). The current Hebrew alphabet was derived around 600 B.C. And by about 400 B.C., the Greek alphabet was developed. It was the Greeks that first used the earliest representations of what we consider to be pen and paper writings. It was the Greek scholar, Cadmus who first sent text messages from one someone to the next via metal, bone or ivory scratchings on waxed tablets.

It was the Chinese who invented the first ink. It was called "Indian ink" and made from a aggregate of pine smoke, lamp oil and donkey musk. Other cultures followed suit and advanced inks from berries, plants, blood and minerals. A range of ink colors was born and population were beginning to chronicle in written form all around the planet.

The Romans advanced a reed pen from the hollow tubular stems of marsh grasses. They also converted bamboo stems into primitive fountain pens. This was the birth of the "nib" of the pen. They formed it plainly by whittling one of the ends of the bamboo into a point. You would squeeze the stem to force the ink to the nib.

It was around 400 A.D. That the first trustworthy and versatile ink formula was developed. Iron salts, mutgalls and gum were combined to create the basic formula that would be used for centuries to come. When applied to paper, it was a blue-black hue. It turned darker black as it dried, and with time, it faded to the familiar brown hue that we can see on historic documents today.

Wood fibered paper was also invented by the Chinese. They did so around 105 A.D., but it remained incommunicable (like most things Chinese at that time) until around 700 A.D. When it surfaced in Japan. The Arabs then brought wood fibered paper to Spain around 711 A.D., but it was not used on a widescale basis in Europe until the late 14th century when woodmills became leading fixtures in the societies.

The familiar quill pen, made from the feather of a bird, is the longest enduring writing instrument in history. Quill pens surfaced around 700 A.D. While goose feathers were the most widely used, the feather of a swan demanded a higher price and in case,granted higher quality. Crow feathers were used for manufacture finer lines, and later, eagle, owl, hawk and turkey feathers became favored. The midpoint quill pen was good for about a week, then it needed replaced.

Time continued to pass and pens, paper and ink were refined to achieve more efficiently. Writing became an art form as well as an daily formula for expression. It was writing that brought civility to the human race. It was also writing that transferred messages of plotting and destruction. Certainly, it is writing that keeps us alive and flourishing today as well.

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