A few months ago, I wrote about the biro and wondered how many books had been written with that type of pen. Many more works of literature have been written with the humble pencil.
Some early form of pencil was used a long time ago for drawing. Then, in the 16th century, a large deposit of graphite was found in England’s Lake District. It was very solid and pure and could easily be cut into sticks (it was originally thought to be a form of lead, which is why we still, mistakenly, talk of lead in a pencil). This graphite was first used to line the moulds for cannon balls. In Italy a couple experimented and came up with the blueprints for what is essentially today’s wood-encased pencil as a writing implement. Keswick, in that area, still produces pencils to this day. In the 17th century powdered graphite was used in Germany, and other European scientists found that by mixing graphite with clay, they could vary the hardness of the pencils.
Pencils rapidly became essential items in a home. By the end of the 19th century, over 240,000 pencils were used each day in the USA. Cedar, basswood and alder were common woods there, and in Asia jetulong and pulai woods have been used. If your pencil was worn right down to the stub, you could buy a pencil extender so it could still be used.
The world’s biggest pencil is 23m long. If you were one of those students who used to suck the end of your pencil, rest assured that graphite is not harmful. It was in 1858 that a patent was created for the first pencil with an eraser attached to its end.
For three centuries this handmade pencil lay hidden in the attic of a house built in 1630 until it was discovered during renovations in the 1960s. It is believed to have been left behind by carpenters. Today, it is the oldest known pencil in the world and can be found in the Faber-Castell archives.
Roald Dahl always kept 6 yellow pencils in a jar on his desk (and he wrote on yellow paper), Haruki Murakami wrote with well-sharpened pencils, and Gertrude Stein used a pencil, often while sitting in a car with a view of a cow (always associated in her works with sexual excitement). For John Steinbeck, properly sharpened pencils were essential. He loved the feeling of a pencil: “The pure luxury of long beautiful pencils charges me with energy and invention”, he enthused. He had a life-long quest for the perfect pencil, but came to the conclusion that “it was not the pencils, but me. A pencil that is all right some days is no good another day.” He disliked hexagonal pencils which cut into his fingers, and preferred rounded ones, and he called his electric pencil sharpener his “most useful possession”. He started each writing day with a box of twenty-four fully sharpened pencils and during the day he rotated and resharpened them. P.G. Wodehouse always did his first drafts in pencil.
I rarely use pencils, but it is clear that they have been extremely important in the history of literary composition. One day, I’d love to visit the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick, home of the world’s first pencil. Have you ever been there? Do you use the humble pencil? Let me know by leaving a comment.
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Helen Mary Jakobi
Hi Alison – yes indeed, I much prefer writing with a pencil (unless it’s an address on an envelope) I find it more gentle somehow – my shopping lists and anything creative is always done with a sharpened pencil. And yes, I have visited the Derwent pencil museum and still have a couple of their ‘give aways’ mostly coloured pencils, each with the name of the colours, such as Olive Earth, beautifully topping off the end of said pencils.
What’s more, pencils are the perfect tool for advertising, as demonstrated by Resene paints who have produced a range in their colours.
My favourite pencil sharpener is one that collects the shavings 🙂
Thanks for the historical notes too – always interesting.
Best regards
Helen
PS Incidentally, my email address involves a ‘pen-name’