Posted 08 September 2013 - 18:33

When I first started this topic back in May, I had no idea that it would produce such a wealth of information. In my ignorance, I had just assumed that the very long holders were simply an aesthetic attempt to mimic the long narrow quills which had preceeded them. We live and learn. Ken

Ken, I don't think that any of us really know why the shape of pens "morphed" into such a variety of shapes, lengths, and other sizes. I do believe that much of it is aesthetics. People simply enjoy the elegant appearance of long slender pens; and I think many also enjoy the way those feel when writing. It's sort of a cool experience to pick up a long handled pen, and feel the weight sort of disappear as it falls into "writing position" in your hand and the weight balances out. And of course the visual appeal is hard to deny. I've seen many photos of the pens used by Master Penman from the Golden Era. Many of them look like absolute junk, and many appear to be home-made. Some are as simple as a short flat piece of wood (mildly shaped) with a flange screwed to the side of it; and obviously a home-made item. These were tools of extremely skilled penmen, but not many of us would go searching for a pen that looked like that. Truth is, those guys were so good, they could write with a small stick in the dirt, and they would be amazing. The pen holders they used were likely a small consideration...their magnificent skills were the source of their pride. One wonders if they even gave their pens a second look. Yet there is more to the story that has likely been lost in the mists of time. Obviously there were very nice elegant longhandles produced during this time, and they were in demand (and they still are). A.Magnusson certainly had an ad in all of the Buisness Educators and sold longtail holders by the gross (your choice of "plain" or "fancy" according to the old ads). Oscar Magnusson's longhandled holders are one of the most sought after and collectible vintage pen holders. Rarely do we even see them available for purchase. Even the Zanerian School sold very nice longhandled pen holders; and goodness knows I've bid on a couple myself...but wasn't lucky enough to win! (darn it). The point being, these longtails were very much in use and desireable during those days. As to "why", I would guess that they looked nice as well as being functional; that elegant beauty combined with great functionality (and the taste of nostalgia that goes along with it) cause these to be very desireable. Were there other reasons for them? Were they teaching aids to allow visual anomalies in finger movement? Heck, who knows, I've never read anything about that and I would think that it would have been mentioned somewhere back then. Were they some kind of "teacher's tool" to allow the teacher to monitor the finger movement of their class of students? I guess it's possible, but doesn't seem likely because these were not bargain based "student line" holders, they were premium holders. We can only guess or try to reason out their relevance...but I believe their main appeal was the same as the reason they are desireable even today...they are pretty and timeless and elegant. Just the sight of them can motivate you to pick them up and dip them and write-write-write. There's just something about them. Even to those who prefer a shorter handle, most everyone enjoys owning and writing with a long handled pen. I know this is weird, but compare it to...say... a table lamp in your home. A bare bones lamp with an uncovered bulb (no lampshade) will probably give more light and will certainly function as well as a beautifully crafted lamp with an attractive lampshade; but that doesn't mean that we should opt for a bare-bones lamp. We enjoy our nice tasteful table lamps, and they give us the best of both worlds. Kind of a weird analogy with a table lamp and a longtail pen, but hopefully the comparison will make some kind of sense.

:-)

Edited by MusinkMan, 08 September 2013 - 18:35.