Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1886 — The Great Cost of the First Pens. [ARTICLE]

The Great Cost of the First Pens.

Only a few years ago Bulwer put into the'mouth of his dramatic creation, “Richelieu.” these pregnant words: “The pen is mightier than the sword 1” In the short time which has since, elapsed these words have acquired a new truth and a new application; the pen has conquered the sword in the field of commerce, as completely as it had formerly triumphed in the fields of high policy and world government. The Jittle civilizer (as it may well be called) is now in every hand, but within the memory of many men still living the steel pen was simply a curious and costly toy, noticeable as an ingenious mechanical fad, but not at all as an invention likely to come into practical use. The earliest form of this article was certainly not promising. A piece of sheet steel was bent into a tubular form, and cut and filed away to imitate the shape of a quill pen, the junction of the two edges forming the nib, which, of course, extended all up the back of the pen. These were known as early as 1810, but were regarded as articles de luxe, to be given away as E resents, and not for use. They were ighly polished, perhaps gilt or silvered, and sold for as much as five shillings each. In 1824 Mr. James Perry, the founder of a system of education, took up the steel pen as a practical invention, and by indomitable eiiergy, overcame the difficulties in its construction and the objections to its use. He patented several varieties, and spared no expense to attain perfection. His brother informed Mr. Samuel Timmins, of Birmingham, that he paid seven shillings per pound for his steel, and five shillings per pen to the first workmen he employed, and that for years afterward the price given to his workmen was thirty-six shillings per gross. ______ ’