Free 600 Period/Vintage Pen Catalogues, Brochures, Pamphlets, etc.

Instructions to download the entire folder at once will be provided

further down this page

Download first offered Jun 18, 2015. Latest update June 20, 2015





Free



Presented by David Isaacson's Vacumania is a free download of a 4 GB, 600-item folder of vintage pen manufacturers' literature. Most seasoned pen collectors have gained a huge portion of their skill and knowledge by reading original company literature from days of yore, back from when their chosen pens were actually on sale. Company catalogues offered pictures and descriptions. Company magazines offered insight into development of pens and into sales/presentation techniques and policy. Company repair manuals taught restoration technique and helped categorize models. It is my pleasure to make this material accessible to all, searchable and instantly openable on your own computers.



--- Latest Update June 20, 2015. A folder of Cross fountain catalogues was donated to the catalogue collection.

---Thanks Steven S. Long--



Original company paper is cherished by collectors, who recognize such material is more scarce than most of the pens sold within. 1920s-1930s company catalogues, 20-100 pages typically sell $300-600 each, and I once saw a John Holland catalogue hit $1300 on ebay. Of course not all period paper rises to that lofty level. Still, what would it cost to build an original library of 600 items of this sort?



Link-- Download the 600 catalogues, etc.-- Link

is a free download of a 4 GB, 600-item folder of vintage pen manufacturers' literature. Most seasoned pen collectors have gained a huge portion of their skill and knowledge by reading original company literature from days of yore, back from when their chosen pens were actually on sale. Company catalogues offered pictures and descriptions. Company magazines offered insight into development of pens and into sales/presentation techniques and policy. Company repair manuals taught restoration technique and helped categorize models. It is my pleasure to make this material accessible to all, searchable and instantly openable on your own computers.Original company paper is cherished by collectors, who recognize such material is more scarce than most of the pens sold within. 1920s-1930s company catalogues, 20-100 pages typically sell $300-600 each, and I once saw a John Holland catalogue hit $1300 on ebay. Of course not all period paper rises to that lofty level. Still, what would it cost to build an original library of 600 items of this sort?



The link contains public domain material. Many of the scans are not full print resolution (They are < 300 dpi) and many are from crude old photocopies. Many though are better. All are legible. All offer great information about a huge range of pens. Even the worst have resolution more than sufficient for you to paste into your own webpages or your online pen commentary on facebook,





The download is free to you, my gift to the hobby to advance the knowledge.



Link-- Download the 600 catalogues, etc.-- Link

Instructions: The will take you to the dropbox page that hosts the entire folder. You will see several folders based on brands. You do not need to open them or do anything with them. Instead at the upper right of the page is a DOWNLOAD button. Just click that. If you have Dropbox, this will pull the main folder, the five brand folders within, and the 600 fiels to your dropbox on your desktop. If you don't have dropbox the file will download as a ZIP folder which can be unzipped once complete. You do not need to be a Dropbox member to access this folder.



Instructions : The Dropbox page. Just click the Download button there.









Link-- Download the 600 catalogues, etc.-- Link









I present three ways for you to offer a thank you token or to help an even bigger/better cause.





First : Consider a token $2 gift to Isaacson . This will subsidize the hefty (cough... cough) $10/month hosting charge and/or let me know someone has embraced the catalog collection and appreciates it. Again, this is optional . The download link is wholly separate and does not require any payment. The PPal button will take you right to the $2 contribution.

The link contains public domain material. Many of the scans are not full print resolution (They are < 300 dpi) and many are from crude old photocopies. Many though are better. All are legible. All offer great information about a huge range of pens. Even the worst have resolution more than sufficient for you to paste into your own webpages or your online pen commentary on facebook, Fountain Pen Board , etc.The download is free to you, my gift to the hobby to advance the knowledge.Instructions: The link will take you to the dropbox page that hosts the entire folder. You will see several folders based on brands. You doneed to open them or do anything with them. Instead at theis abutton. Just click that. If you have Dropbox, this will pull the main folder, the five brand folders within, and the 600 fiels to your dropbox on your desktop. If you don't have dropbox the file will download as a ZIP folder which can be unzipped once complete. You doneed to be a Dropbox member to access this folder.Currently the folder is hosted at a dedicated Dropbox site that charges me $10/month.three ways for you to offer a thank you token or to help an even bigger/better cause.. This will subsidize the hefty (cough... cough) $10/month hosting charge and/or let me know someone has embraced the catalog collection and appreciates it. Again, this is. The download link is wholly separate and does not require any payment. The PPal button will take you right to the $2 contribution.



Second Pass this page or even just the Download link to your pen friends: Meaning, just help spread the word. By all means ask your friends to let me know they received it. I am curious how far this will spread.



Third Consider suscribing to my friend Paul Erano's print magazine for pen collectors, the Fountain Pen Journal , at $25/year for 3 issues, shipping in USA included (international subs cost a bit more). I aggressively support this new full color print magazine, and I hope you will give it a try. This would be a shameless plug, but in fact there could not be shame in any case as there indeed is honor in promoting this wonderful magazine.



Click on pic to goto FPJ's home page





Paul is one of the world's leading contributors of pendom-related commentary, having written the best selling and revered hard cover Fountain Pens: Past and Present , having edited Erano's Quarterly Pen Review , having injected new blood into the Pennant as Editor for several years, and having written numerous articles for Pen World International, for Stylus Magazine , and for Pennant . I am a regular writer (ostensibly a contributing editor) for Paul's FPJ. You will learn a great deal about pen collecting at FPJ. Retroactive subscriptions can be had as long as copies last, starting you with the very first issue instead of the current issue. You can discuss with Paul if you want to start from the beginning. Here are a couple links to the website.



Subscription Page for Fountain Pen Journal



Home Page for Fountain Pen Journal



Drop me a note at isaacson@frontiernet.net if you have any questions and comments.



Here are four links to items that might interest you in your role as pen collector:









Testimonials



Overwhelming! Just as an fyi, the "download as .zip" option wasn't working- it said the .zip file is too large. I don't know if this is a universal problem or jsut for some computers. I was able to save it to my computer by adding it to my dropbox. Thanks David Isaacson for making this available and for the reminder to subscribe to the FPJ, which I finally did



Rick Krantz Here's my testimonial....



Thank you for taking a progressive stance on the pen hobby and the way we share information. Rather than using this information for leverage, you chose to freely share it as it should be shared. I have a few items I am sure I can offer to upgrade what you have, or just add more to the collection. I still think this is a landmark achievement for the hobby as a whole, and will spur a huge surge of interest in the hobby.



Thomas Overfield Thanks David. This is indeed a great service and a selfless one.



Maria Andersen Wow, you can save this to your DropBox! T hank you so very very very much, I really appreciate this big time! grin emoticon heart emoticon heart emoticon Thank you so much for posting David Isaacson



Jason Palma Woo hoo!!! Many thx:)



Kailash Ramchandani Thanks David... downloaded 3.64GB via Dropbox... Much appreciated!



Dan Caddell Superb!!! Will download as son as I get back to my desktop. Thank you David Isaacson!!!



Sandy Young This is fantastic! Thanks very much!



Barrie Parker David, this is a wonderful resource, thank you. I have downloaded two items so far, quick and simple.



Alain Bossard Thank you very much David for sharing such valuable info !



Ignacio Gómez Fdez de Arcaya Thank you very much for this unvaluable stuff, David. By the way ... what about magazine's next issue ?



Norwood Bodie Thanks David!



Ed Akers Totally awesome information David. Thanks for sharing



Ivan B Schrodt Thanks for doing this. I managed the zip by doing the folders individually, except Other which had to go to Dropbox. I did not have enough room for all in Dropbox.



Mith Raven THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!! (sorry for the caps....)



Ed Hodson I've had Dropbox for years but never messed with until now. Having all of this information instantly available to me on my phone or on any computer in the world is priceless. Thank you SO much, David.



Kenneth T Hertz David, what a treasure trove!!! Just downloaded by my Dropbox. Could not have been easier. Now to begin the journey. What an extraordinary opportunity. Thank you so much!



Alfonso Mur Dear David, Chapeau, my friend!!! I will download it as soon as I get back home. Regards



Steven S. Long Excellent work! It's not of any immediate use to me because it doesn't seem to include any Cross catalogs, but sooner or later I will probably need it for something. Databases are always worth having. like emoticon



Steven S. Long Coolness. I have some Cross catalogs I can send if you like, though they're relatively recent ones (1990s and 2000s).



Bob Corrigan Well done and thank you.



Tim Hofmann This thing will likely continue to grow. Hurrah for progress!



Ig nacio Francisco Suazo Meza muchas gracias por este regalo,Thank you very much for this gift,



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Meaning, just help spread the word. By all means ask your friends to let me know they received it. I am curious how far this will spread.to my friend Paul Erano's print magazine for pen collectors, theat $25/year for 3 issues, shipping in USA included (international subs cost a bit more). I aggressively support this new full color print magazine, and I hope you will give it a try. This would be a shameless plug, but in fact there could not be shame in any case as there indeed is honor in promoting this wonderful magazine.Paul is one of the world's leading contributors of pendom-related commentary, having written the best selling and revered hard cover, having edited, having injected new blood into theas Editor for several years, and having written numerous articles forfor, and for. I am a regular writer (ostensibly a contributing editor) for Paul's FPJ. You will learn a great deal about pen collecting at FPJ. Retroactive subscriptions can be had as long as copies last, starting you with the very first issue instead of the current issue. You can discuss with Paul if you want to start from the beginning. Here are a couple links to the website.Drop me a note atif you have any questions and comments.Here are four links to items that might interest you in your role as pen collector: