The Pen

A journey into the history of writing, thought, and culture through the story of the pen and its integral role in shaping our lives into the twenty-first century—from New York Times bestselling author Simon Garfield

The pen has been with us for millennia. Many beloved authors had their preferred instruments—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used a Parker Duofold, Jane Austen used a new-fangled steel-nibbed dip pen, Ernest Hemingway used a Montegrappa, and Stephen King uses a Waterman Hemisphere. It was the pen that signed the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the agreements at the Yalta Conference. The history of the pen is the history of civilization; the technology of intellect itself. Within the mechanics of ink chambers, springs, and ballpoint tips lies the history of ideas—from the faintest notion to the wildest invention—and of the oldest tangible connection between an individual mind and anyone in the world who can read its creations.

In this expansive history, beloved author and master of graphology Simon Garfield delivers an enthralling look at society through the evolution of our favorite writing tool. Garfield takes readers on a trek across time and place, from the home of the calamus reed pens along the banks of the Nile and Bosporus in the fourth century BC; to Tang-dynasty China, where calligraphers practiced art with brush pens; to the Apple Pencils we use today. We meet the pioneers behind various iterations of the pen, such as Joseph Priestley, who was among the first to affix a steel tip to a quill in 1780; Bartholomew Folsch, who created the early reservoir pen in 1809; and Milton Reynolds, who introduced the world to the ballpoint pen.

Written with Garfield’s unique narrative flair and drawing on a wealth of historical research and original interviews, The Pen makes a case for why this most important instrument is an indelible marker of our shared culture and how it continues to shape the way we live in the digital age.