Quill
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A quill is a
As with the earlier reed pen (and later dip pen), a quill has no internal ink reservoir and therefore needs to periodically be dipped into an inkwell during writing. The hand-cut goose quill is rarely used as a calligraphy tool anymore because many papers are now derived from wood pulp and would quickly wear a quill down.[citation needed] However it is still the tool of choice for a few scribes who have noted that quills provide an unmatched sharp stroke as well as greater flexibility than a steel pen.
Description
The shaft of a flight feather is long and hollow, making it an obvious candidate for being crafted into a pen. The process of making a quill from a feather involves curing the shaft to harden it, then fashioning its tip into a nib using a pen knife or other small cutting tool.[3][4]
A quill pen is in effect a hollow tube which has one closed end, and has one open end at which part of the tube wall extends into a sharp point and has in it a thin slit leading to this point.
The hollow shaft of the feather (the calamus) acts as an ink reservoir and ink flows to the tip through the slit by capillary action.
In a carefully prepared quill, the slit does not widen through wetting with ink and drying. It will retain its shape adequately, requiring only infrequent sharpening; it can be used repeatedly until there is little left of it.
Sources
The strongest quills come from the primary flight feathers discarded by birds during their annual
On a true quill, the
Uses
Quill pens were used to write the vast majority of medieval manuscripts. Quill pens were also used to write Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence.[2] U.S. President Thomas Jefferson bred geese specially at Monticello to supply his tremendous need for quills.[7][8] Quill pens are still used today mainly by professional scribes and calligraphers.
Quills are also used as the
From the 17th to 19th centuries, the central tube of the quill was used as a priming tube (filled with gunpowder) for cannon fire.[12]
History
Quills were the primary writing instrument in the Western world from the 6th to the 19th century. The best quills were usually made from goose, swan, and later turkey feathers. Quills went into decline after the invention of the metal pen, mass production beginning in Great Britain as early as 1822 by John Mitchell of Birmingham.[6] In the Middle East and much of the Islamic world, quills were not used as writing implements. Only reed pens were used as writing implements.[13]
Quill pens were the instrument of choice during the
It was much later, in the 1600s, with the increased popularity of writing, especially in the copperplate script promoted by the many printed manuals available from the 'Writing Masters', that quills became more pointed and flexible.[citation needed]
Quills are denominated from the order in which they are fixed in the wing; the first is favoured by the expert calligrapher, the second and third quills also being satisfactory, together with the pinion feather. The 5th and 6th feathers are also used. No other feather on the wing would be considered suitable by a professional scribe.[citation needed]
Information can be obtained on the techniques of curing and cutting quills:[14]
In order to harden a quill that is soft, thrust the barrel into hot ashes, stirring it till it is soft; then taking it out, press it almost flat upon your knees with the back of a penknife, and afterwards reduce it to a roundness with your fingers. If you have a number to harden, set water and alum over the fire; and while it is boiling put in a handful of quills, the barrels only, for a minute, and then lay them by.[15]
An accurate account of the Victorian process by William Bishop, from research with one of the last London quill dressers, is recorded in the Calligrapher's Handbook cited on this page.[citation needed]
As a symbol
From the 19th century in
Quills appear on the seals of the United States Census Bureau and the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. They also appear in the coats of arms of several US Army Adjutant general units which focus on administrative duties.[citation needed]
Quills are on the coats of arms of a number of municipalities such as Bargfeld-Stegen in Germany and La Canonja in Spain.[citation needed]
Three books and a quill pen are the symbols of Saint Hilary of Poitiers.[16]
Quill and pen knives
A quill knife was the original primary tool used for cutting and sharpening quills, a process known as "dressing".[citation needed]
Following the decline of the quill in the 1820s, after the introduction of the maintenance-free, mass-produced steel dip nib by John Mitchell, knives were still manufactured but became known as desk knives, stationery knives or latterly as the name stuck
There is a small but significant difference between a pen knife and a quill knife, in that the quill knife has a blade that is flat on one side and convex on the other which facilitates the round cuts required to shape a quill.[citation needed]
A "pen" knife by contrast has two flat sides. This distinction is not recognised by modern traders, dealers or collectors, who define a quill knife as any small knife with a fixed or hinged blade, including such items as ornamental fruit knives.[citation needed]
Today
While quills are rarely used as writing instruments in the modern day, they are still being produced as specialty items, mostly for hobbyists. Such quills tend to have metal nibs or are sometimes even outfitted with a ballpoint pen inside to remove the need for a separate source of ink.[citation needed]
According to the Supreme Court Historical Society, 20 goose-quill pens, neatly crossed, are placed at the four counsel tables each day the U.S. Supreme Court is in session;[2] "most lawyers appear before the Court only once, and gladly take the quills home as souvenirs."[17] This has been done since the earliest sessions of the Court.[18]
In the
Music
Plectra for psalteries and lutes can be cut similarly to writing pens. The rachis, the portion of the stem between the barbs, not the calamus, of the primary flight feathers of birds of the Corvidae was preferred for harpsichords. In modern instruments, plastic is more common, but they are often still called "quills".[11] The lesiba uses a quill attached to a string to produce sound.
See also
- The spiny barbs of a porcupine
- In a zoological context, a spine is a hard, needlelike anatomical structure.
References
- )
- ^ a b c "Quill – Facts and History of Quill Pen". www.historyofpencils.com. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
- ISSN 0011-9253.
- ^ "Making a Feather Quill Pen". Retrieved 2021-08-03.
- ^ "Writing Implements, c18th Century". National Museum of Ireland.
- ^ a b "A Note on the Quill". www.usask.ca. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
- ^ ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
- ^ a b c "goose quill pen | Jane Austen's World". Retrieved 2019-05-28.
- ^ "Quill | feather". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
- ISBN 978-0-465-02878-8. Archived from the originalon March 28, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- ^ Famous fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.100
- ^ Francois Déroche, Islamic Codicology: An Introduction to the Study of Manuscripts in Arabic Script (London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2005), 103–6
- ISBN 0-7136-2695-X.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, 6th edition, 1823.
- OCLC 317778053.
- ^ "How the court works." Supreme Court Historical Society.
- ^ "The Court and Its Traditions." Supreme Court of the United States.
- ^ "The kulmus (quill) and how to cut it". www.sofer.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-10-04.