Great article by Dr. Ron Dutcher on presidential pens, this one specifically of Thomas Jefferson. Worth a read, and some nice pics too.Thomas Jefferson quill and dip Pens: "The modern fountain pen can actually trace its roots back to Thomas Jefferson. It was he who talked with John Isaac Hawkins about his problems with letter writing. Jefferson was a prolific writer and he went through quills painfully fast. He wished for a a pen with the same elasticity as a quill, but something that would last. Hawkins was a young inventor, and moved to London to study the pen making industry there. Hawkins with Samson Mordan developed and patented the first Mechanical pencil. Hawkins heard of a pensmith named Doughty who had experimented with soldering rubies to gold pens."
