Naturally, when something’s been around for thousands of years you will find that there have been a few changes along the way. The same goes for the calligraphy pen.

Reed

The reed pen can be traced back to Ancient Egypt times and similar types of pens were also made in the far east. It is the earliest recognisable writing tool that carried some kind of ink. The reed pen were created by cutting the nib shape out of the end of a piece of bamboo or a reed such as bulrushes. The reed pen tends to blunt very quickly and must be replaced after only a short period of use.

Quill

The quill pen replaced the reed pen and was used through the medieval period until it was eventually replaced by the steel-tipped nib. It was made from the flight feather of a large bird such as a goose. To turn a feather into a writing implement, the plumage was generally stripped off, the feather soaked in water and then thrust into hot sand to temper the barrel. Once the tip was hardened it could be trimmed to form the nib. The quill could be resharpened multiple times as it became worn down or if the nib broke and, examining old texts it is possible to detect the points at which the medieval scribe stopped to sharpen his quill before continuing.

Metal

The metal nibbed calligraphy pen goes back hundreds of years – you can go back to ancient Rome - where the Romans used a metal stylus to scribe into thin sheets of wax. With the amount of work that had to go into constantly sharpening the quill pens, there was a need to find a substance that would last longer. This is where the metal nibbed dip pen came into vogue in the 19th century. The fountain pen was invented by Romanian Petrache Poenaru which was patented in France in 1825 and a variation of one from or another – dip pen or cartridge – has remained until today.

Glass

Said to have their origins around the 16th century in Venice, the glass calligraphy pen is more an art form than a popularly used tool. They produce a steady monoline mark and are a fine, delicate tool.

Hair

The Chinese and Japanese have rather a long and celebrated history with calligraphy with the calligraphy pen they used actually a brush. A calligraphy brush looks to be a simply designed piece of equipment but is actually very cunningly put together. It is made up of two (or more) layers. The first layer is an inner core of short hairs that are then surrounded by an outer layer of longer hairs that form the tip of the brush. In the main Chinese and Japanese calligraphy brushes are made of either goat’s hair or wolf’s hair. The goat’s hair brushes are absorbent and supple while the wolf’s hair brushes are more stiff and resilient producing sharper strokes.