Fountain Pen Ink

When I attended Primary and Prep school in the 1960s and early 1970s some of the wooden desks had little ink wells.

These old desks had a lid at the top which opened upwards for storage of books, writing pads etc.

Fountain pens were still commonly used in the 1960s, though ballpoint pens were beginning to supersede them.

I seldom use my fountain pens today; I hardly use any writing instruments, in fact. Instead I type on desktop, iPad, and iPhone keyboards.

Nowadays I use the fountain pen for signing documents, cards, and so on.

It's a shame, really, that I don't use my fountain pens more frequently.

I inherited a lovely vintage De La Rue Onoto pen from my father in 2002.

About 2000, I think, I purchased a very grand Mont Blanc fountain pen and ballpoint.

I wrote an article about the Onoto here.

Dear reader, do you have any notion of how difficult it is to purchase fountain pen ink in Belfast today?

I mean ordinary black ink, not the Mont Blanc or calligraphic premium variety.

I sent out a plea for help on Twitter and Facebook; and, lo and behold! My friend Mags asked me if I had tried Proctor's of Belfast, printers, suppliers of offices, arts and crafts, wedding stationery, not to mention a vast array of miscellaneous goods.

I called them and inquired about fountain pen ink. To my surprise they sell it, Parker Quink, to be precise.

Proctor's, 201-213, Castlereagh Road, Belfast, was established about 1966.

What a Godsend.