Jane Austen wrote with a quill pen. Most of us would agree that she managed pretty well with that particular technology.
So just imagine what literary heights she might have reached if she’d had access to the Montblanc “Homage to Jane Austen” series of limited-edition fountain pens, the latest entrants in the field of luxury Austen merch.
The line showcases the company's "reverence and passion for the written word," apparently, although a reverence for elaborate display might be nearer the mark. (Montblanc has marketed several other pens honoring writers, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Victor Hugo, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the Brothers Grimm, but the Austen series appears to be the most elaborate.)
The four pens in the Austen collection, which was unveiled last month, are replete with details designed to appeal to Janeites. The pens’ shape is intended to recall a sealing-wax stamp, and the famous allegedly-Austen silhouette is engraved on each nib. The original attribution of Sense and Sensibility—“By a Lady”—features on the cap, and the clip is meant to represent the drawstring of a reticule. Cap tops are variously engraved with Pride and Prejudice chapter numbers or—in one case--with a P&P quote and the names of the five Bennet sisters. Even the ink comes in a box whose design recalls the famous “Peacock edition” of P&P.
And as this YouTube video shows, each pen arrives in a book-shaped box, along with a facsimile of an Austen letter and a booklet about her life. (Hopefully it doesn’t repeat the errors on the company’s website, including the claim that “the original year of publication of Pride and Prejudice” was 1797 and the description of Austen as “well-travelled.”)
OK, I'll stop being snarky now and admit that all this scavenger-hunt detail is kind of cool. I might even covet these, except that I can't stand using fountain pens.
Just as well, since you will not be surprised to hear that none of this detail comes cheap. Although the bottom-of-the-line fountain pen can be obtained for a mere $1,320, the others range from $4,700 to “Contact us for enquiries.” The two if-you-have-to-ask-you-can’t-afford-it pens (here and here) feature accouterments like diamonds, turquoises, sapphires, and solid-gold nibs, as well as an aura of super-exclusivity: The pens are named the “97” and the “8” after the (small) number that will ever be made.
It's all a far cry from the instruments with which Austen actually worked. Progress? You decide.
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