Quite a lot of gears turning over the last few months!
It's been a very busy season the last quarter of 2006, and the net result (besides lack of sleep) has been a shortage of time for the magazine. We're hoping that things are beginning to turn around, and allow us to get back to more regular uploads for new articles. We've got fingers crossed, at any rate!
This month we're covering several different pens, some new, some a bit "aged" thanks to the delay in getting this issue put together and uploaded. Among the most interesting article this issue might well be the review of the new Duofold book by David Shepherd and Dan Zazove. If you don't mind the surprise being spoiled, it's a very positive review.... Go out and buy a copy today. Heck, get one even if you're not a Duofold collector, it's that good! An excellent example of what a good reference work should be.
The new Bernini from Stipula is an interesting pen, one that takes the design concept to the utmost. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is definitely a unique look! Of course, it is a limited edition...
Which
brings us to the whole point of this editorial, more or less. Looking
back at the list of contents for this issue, we've got five out of the
seven articles covering pens being focused on limited editions. Granted,
one of them, the Visconti Voyager Anniversary, is a limited edition
that is more than a few years old, but an LE nonetheless. In fact, looking
back over the last year, it seems that of late we've been writing about
limited edition pens just a bit less than half the time. That's a lot
of limited edition coverage! And, perhaps not surprisingly, it forms
the basis for probably a bit more than half our complaint emails!
So, why the focus on modern LE pens?
Good question. The answer comes down to that we tend to find it easier to cover the pens we can get. Easy enough answer!
Right
now, it seems that limited edition pens are the "hot item"
for pen manufacturers. We'd love to be writing about the flood of great
new $100 pens that are all over the market, the only trouble seems to
be that there aren't any. The market in general seems to be evolving
towards the higher end and limited edition fountain pens. There are
a lot of reasons for this, it's not just that the makers cannot make
a living at the production of sub-$100 pens, although that is probably
a large part of the problem. Facing a tightening market, with fewer
and fewer people looking towards "good pens" as gifts, presentation
items, or for themselves, pen manufacturers have to look to the markets
that can support production. For many companies, the answer seems to
lie in the high end production limited edition pens.
Which of course, means that we tend to get for review more of the high end pens than otherwise. They just simply make up more of what's "news" in the fountain pen world!
For those who love a good, lower priced pen, there's more coming over the next few weeks, we've actually gotten some very nice looking pens in for review that are marketed at lower price points, and over the course of the year we will be making a concerted effort to seek out others.
In a related note, we are working to try to bolster our coverage of both vintage pens, and pen history. As always, if you have any thoughts or ideas in this area, or are interested in contributing, please contact us via email. We'll be at the upcoming LA pen show, and look forward to the chance to meet folks face to face if you'd rather talk in person!
Images copyright 2006 William Riepl