Thursday, September 29, 2016

“Fountain pens, pencil, and pipe”


Walter Benjamin, One-Way Street , trans. Edmund Jephcott (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016).

Edmund Jephcott has made several small changes from his earlier translation in Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, and Autobiographical Writings , a 1978 collection of Benjamin’s work. The best one: meditation becomes observation , a more medical word.

Other Walter Benjamin posts
Advertising v. criticism : Benjamin on collectors : Handwriting and typing : Metaphors for writing : On happiness : On readers and writers : On writing materials : “Pencils of light” : Smoke and ink

comments: 4

The Crow said...

On a slightly different note, I read about today's Google-Doogle (doodle) celebrating the 117th birthday of the inventor of the ball-point pen and immediately thought of you. (Meant to send you a note earlier, but had to hit the road to the VA.) The first ball-point pen was introduced in 1931. And I thought I was old!

Also, Staples is having a sale on retro color fountain pens (cartridge type only); almost bought one, might yet if the nib is good and the pen has enough heft in my hand.

Happy scribbling, friend!

Michael Leddy said...

Biro’s birthday — I had no idea. Thanks, Martha.

We went to our soon-to-close local Staples this morning — very little there, though we did get some paper and Post-it Notes. End of an era for us. I’m guessing that the fountain pens are Sheaffers?

The Crow said...

Yes, the pens are Sheaffers. The offering is for the back-to-school crowd, because if you buy ($20 each) one of either the fountain pen, or ball-point or the calligraphy set (the bling* of that made me drool right there in front of all those parents [and teachers] buying b-t-s goods), you could buy another or different one for half price. If I'd had $30 to spare yesterday, they'd have come home with me.

Sorry to hear your Staples has closed. I asked our store's manager, Joanne, if they were going to be closing; she said not but that a lot of their products were available only online now. (The Marthastewart crap is still there.) If you ordered online, the merch (her word) could be sent to the local store without shipping costs to the customer.

(*bling: bright neon colors of the barrels, almost transparent cartridges that let light reflect the ink color back to your eyes with a shy sparkle, all encased in very shiny plastic material that looked like shimmering water. Can you tell how badly I wanted to pick that up and take it home?)

Michael Leddy said...

No disrespect to Sheaffer, but take a look at the offerings at Jet Pens. They have Japanese stationery supplies, and many fountain pens at very low prices.