THE IDEAL PEN – WATERMAN’S IN ENGLAND – 1890-1990

Author: Stephen Hull

Review by George Parapadakis (from the WES Journal #129)

Hot on the tails of our last book review in Journal #128, I was privileged to collect a copy of this new book from Steve, which he generously donated to the WES Archive library, at the London Pen Show in October 2024.

Given Steve’s legacy as the leading British pen historian and book author, the expectations are always set high when seeing a new book, and this book did not disappoint. Running to just over 300 beautifully illustrated and laid out A4-size pages, the book is packed full of historical information about the brand, its trials and tribulations, and its path to establishing itself in the British market.

Unlike some of Steve’s previous books, the book pages are not populated with photographs of Waterman pens, for which the author refers the reader to the renowned “Waterman Past and Present – The first six decades” book by Max Davis (an incredible, but extremely hard to obtain, out-of-print reference book). That’s not to say that this book is short in visuals: 500 images of catalogues, adverts, correspondence and ephemera are used effectively throughout the book to illustrate the trajectory of the brand. The design and layout of the book is attributed to Steve’s regular collaborator Andy Russell.

As is typical of Steve’s books, it’s very easy to read it sequentially as a historical retrospective, from beginning to end. The book narrative follows the historical timeline of the brand, in parallel to its commercial representation by various agents, distributors and its own presence in Britain, through the decades. Organised in nine significant period chapters, it is peppered with interesting insights of the English trade of the period. At the same time though, it still functions as a remarkable reference source with a detailed general index, and a second one organised by the pens’ model names and numbers. As a collector and researcher, it is remarkably easy to dive directly into the relevant segment of interest.

All in all, this book is thoroughly recommended as a “must-have” book for any serious pen collectors and anyone with a historical interest in the Waterman’s brand.