(Click on the picture of the cover above to see some sample pages)
50 Years of the Dinkie - 1922 to 1972
The book begins by looking at how small pens from British manufacturers evolved in the years leading up to 1922, when the Dinkie pen became one of the first models to be entirely produced in Conway Stewart's new Shoe Lane factory. The changes in design of the Dinkie are then followed through the next 50 years. By 1971, the Dinkie was the only gold-nibbed pen remaining in the Conway Stewart range, until production ceased in 1972.
During this period, Dinkie pens were produced in a myriad of wonderfully coloured casein materials. Over 100 different materials are known, but they have never previously been fully documented. Only eight of these materials are so far known to have been named by Conway Stewart themselves, though a few additional names have been adopted by collectors over the years. The book includes an appendix showing sample swatches of all these materials, each one given a unique code to allow collectors to precisely describe the material of their pens, as well as indicating an approximate period of manufacture. The swatch tables are also reproduced here so they will be freely available to all collectors, and the webpages will be updated if new materials are discovered in the future.
The swatches can be accessed by clicking Dinkie Colours
The slip-cased book includes more than 250 full size pictures of pens and more than 100 sets (pictured half size) from the author's collection. In all, there are over 450 pictures, mostly in colour, reproduced in high quality offset litho printing on 130gsm silk-coated paper. Several Conway Stewart colour Christmas leaflets are featured, along with advertising from newspapers, magazines and the trade press. Many of these are reproduced for the first time.
Published by Shelley and Peacock, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9563444-3-4
111 pages, A4 landscape format (297x210mm)
Slip-cased Limited Edition of 100 Now Sold Out
A short run of a special paperback edition was produced exclusively for the makers of modern Conway Stewart pens (the content is identical to that of the limited edition). It may still be possible to purchase copies from their website at
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