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		quill pens

		It is generally accepted that the quill pen was introduced in the 6th century AD. Hence, from the Dark Ages until the nineteenth century, the quill pen was the main means by which every aspect of European civilisation was recorded. Compared to the other options at the time, reed and metal pens, the quill was easier to cut and, above all, flexible. In the early Middle Ages, it was mainly monks who had the ability to write and few pens would have been used outside a monastery. With the establishment of town life and consequent expansion of commerce coupled with wider literacy among the laity required an increased supply of quills for pen making. The invention of printing accelerated the spread of literacy and many scribes turned to producing books as the obvious method of teaching fine writing to a wider audience. Many such writing-masters depicted the ever changing fashions in writing from 1514 to the present day. The spread of education in schools produced a further increase in the demand for quills for pens. By the nineteenth century literacy was so widespread that Imports of quills into London alone reached 23,976,900 in 1833. The main type of quills for pens were those of the goose, but turkey, swan, crow and duck quills were also popular. Many writers were particular over the type and shape of their quills and this was attended to by a quill-dresser who shaped them accordingly. The museum holds a collection of quills including one used by Lord Tennyson, those of the scribe Alfred Fairbank and the equipment of William Southgate, one of the last quill makers and dressers. The photograph shows various styles of quill-dressing.
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