Venetian glass pen
The Venetian glass pen is a writing instrument and a drawing instrument . It is made entirely of glass and consists of one piece with a spring and handle. A colored liquid, usually ink, is used for writing .
history
Until the 18th century, in the course of the expansion of trade and the development of the arts, attempts were repeatedly made to manufacture glass feathers as an alternative to the goose feathers used until then. The economic pressure for durable writing implements was great. At the beginning of the 19th century, for example, Germany used around 50 million quills a year, while England imported around 27 million quills from St. Petersburg every year. Goose feathers used up too quickly. A scribe used about five quills a day.
In Japan, North America and Germany, glassmakers therefore tried to produce thin glass rods with tapered facets in which the ink held. However, these were too fragile to be a serious alternative to goose feathers, even if they offered great advantages due to the low wear and tear and the ability to write on wood, paper, leather and similar materials. Thuringian glassblowers then succeeded in improving the breaking strength as well as the cohesive and capillary force , so that the glass nib was slowly becoming established as a writing instrument.
French, American and German manufacturers used the glass nib in fountain pens . In the 19th century, the glass pen was used to mark fabrics in the textile industry in the USA. It became popular again with the American public in the 1920s. It also experienced a renaissance again during the scarcity economy of the two world wars.
However, the triumphant advance of the glass nib was soon ended again when the metal nib, which was also prevalent at the same time, was continuously improved. While the quality of the metal springs could be steadily increased, the production costs could be continuously reduced, so that the metal springs were ultimately cheaper than quills and glass springs, they were also robust and had little wear.
Glass nibs are still produced today, but only used in calligraphy . They are also popular as decorative objects.
Manufacturing
The glass springs are made from two narrow glass rods. One of them is colorful and ornate. This forms the basis for the later grip. The other is usually clear. This forms the basis for the tip. One end of each rod is heated over a glass blower lamp. The clear glass rod is then placed on the handle, pulled so that a tip is created and this separates from the clear rod.
The term "Venetian glass pen"
Why the glass nib is mostly called the Venetian glass nib is unclear. There are many sources that refer to the development of the glass nib in Murano near Venice in the 17th century, but the similarity of the texts in the various sources suggests that all sources refer to one another. Its origin remains unclear. It is possible that the Murano glassblowers also tried their hand at glass springs. One possibility is that Murano was only used as a brand name, since Murano was a well-known center of the European glass industry, but glass springs were never made in Murano itself.
Nevertheless, one can observe that the term “Venetian glass nib” has meanwhile become a generic term and denotes writing implements made of glass, regardless of whether they come from Venice or not.
literature
- Dietmar Geyer: Collecting writing implements. From hand ax to stylus, from pen to fountain pen and fiber pen , Munich, 1989, ISBN 3-87467-391-X
Web links
- Information about the glass nib, (in English)
- Critical appreciation to the sources on the history of the Venetian glass pen
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dietmar Geyer: Collecting writing implements. From hand ax to stylus, from pen to fountain pen and fiber pen , Munich 1989, ISBN 3-87467-391-X .