Quill or steel


... it seems easy to do with a quill pen... though I use a metal one myself. Not enough geese around here.

It really doesn't have to be goose, you know ... I found some swan feathers once and they're delightful to work with ... and to give the first taster on courses I simply use what feathers I can find lying around ... there really is nothing like writing with a quill - unless it's a Wacom graphics tablet with carefully-chosen settings! - nor indeed like playing a harpsichord which has raven's quill tags to pluck the strings ... but the price of using those things is that you can't do anything else in your life except whittle and adjust quills all day! So of course I use a metal nib too in practice ...

John Langton, A New Copybook of the Small Italian Hand, London 1727