I am not a fan of unsolicited advertising material, junk mail, call it what you will. I don’t care to know that Coles is having a special on sirloin this week, or that you can buy two KFC two-piece feeds for $10 with this special voucher, or that I can sell my house in just 19 hours. We have a NO JUNK MAIL sign on our letter box, which keeps most of that stuff out. I get even more stroppy when I get those addressed letters from the Reader’s Digest “you’ve been entered in our soopa doopa all-you-can-win lottery and round the world 16 times cruise competition you lucky lucky thing”, or American Express, or Citibank, or wherever. They all go straight in the bin.
And yet I was absurdly happy yesterday when I checked the letter box and found a ninety page catalogue all the way from New York, New York, from Fountain Pen Hospital. I am on their mailing list because many months ago I bought a Waterman Phileas fountain pen set from them when it was on special. (This is a pen that retails for $120 here in Perth. I bought it from FPH with a bottle of ink and an assortment of multicoloured cartridges, for something like US$15. I forget the exact price now. Cheap, anyway.) This is the first time I have ever received anything like this from them, and oooh! I love it!
Normally I would immediately contact the company in question and demand to be taken off their mailing list, but I can’t do that with this 2006 Sixtieth Anniversary (1946-2006) Fountain Pen Hospital catalogue because I can’t stop salivating over the life-sized, full colour pictures of fountain pens in each of the ninety pages, and I am PLEASED that they sent something so glorious to me.
I debated with myself whether to share the technicolour glory with you, but decided it would take too long to scan and resize the pages. And besides, what do I choose to show you? The cover, with its artfully posed Montblanc LeGrand fountain pen? The spread of exquisite Namiki maki-e pens? The very cute Monteverde Diva La Penna Lipstick pens? 
(The only ‘lipstick’ I would ever consider carrying.) The Acme Homer pen, with Homer J proudly emblazoned all over it? The pen holders? The bottles of ink? The Krone Moby Dick limited edition pen with the barrel made of 10,000 year old mammoth ivory with scrimshaw pictures of Herman Melville and scenes from the book? (I think this pen looks tacky and is a waste of perfectly good 10,000 year old mammoth ivory, by the way. The pen itself costs US$3,800!)
It just makes me want to spend money. Which I suppose is the idea of such publications. Someone out there knows my weakness. Oh, so weak!!
Pictures from the Fountain Pen Hospital Online Catalogue. I am not affliated with Fountain Pen Hospital in any way, shape or form, and this post is not an endorsement of their organisation. But gosh I love them pens!
technorati tags: junkmail, Fountain Pen Hospital, catalogue , fountain pens, obsession
7 Comments
That Homer pen is very cool!
The Namiki pen is… beautiful!
Mont Blanc Mozart meisterstuck is a dream for me. Its small and would easily fit into my pocket. It would also burn a large hole through it too at 250++ USD. And that’s one of Mont Blanc’s cheaper pens.
I guess its a distant dream for now.
Your pictorial selection was absolutely delectable. Right. I’ve decided i must acquire a lippy pen before the end of the year.
tfp: isn’t it! I’d love one!
Anna: Ya… so exquisitely wonderful. Only trouble, is, I would be too scared to use it for fear of damaging it.
israd: I reckon you could get a pen that looks just as classy for less… like a Waterman or a Pelikan… still, even they would be luxury, non-necessary items.
Cherry: ya they are very cute aren’t they? It’s a pity that FPH doesnt have the scarlet red model for sale (I think they have pink and tigerseye… )
Wow, that Namiki is a beauty! I’ve been using a Vanishing Point for 6 months now and love it.
Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/
Hi Chris, I too love my Vanishing Point. It’s such a nice pen to hold and write with, and I love the surprised looks when people realise it’s not a ballpoint despite the fact that it “clicks” 🙂