I am bereft. I wanted to recommend a writing pen to someone, so dug out my favorite cheap one — a Berol Fontaine — and then went looking for a source on the web.

Doesn’t exist. So not only can I not only not suggest it to someone else, I must face the end of my relationship (something like ten years old) with this charming pen.

And then, adding insult to injury, I discovered that Berol purchased the Osmiroid company. From my days at Reed, that was the calligraphy pen; now I see that most models have been canceled.

Do any of you in Europe or elsewhere have sources for these fountain pens?

I think several European manufacturers still make cheap fountain pens with a range of nibs for calligraphy, but at the moment I can't remember their names. The names Stadler and Swan occur to me, but I don't think the one I threw away (it was worn out) came from either.

Ballpoints and their many variants seem to be universal these days, but are the enemies of decent writing.

Try the names I have suggested by searching for a non-American domain (e.g. co.uk or de).

The Berol Fontaine, however, is a cheap but wonderful-writing plain fountain pen, meant to be used and thrown away. I suspect I bought it in Paris, perhaps ten years ago, used it for a while, and then set it aside. I was a little surprised that it still wrote when I noticed it recently, but it is now drying up, and the model seems to have disappeared.

That was a suggestion going back to my schooldays. Another suggestion, going back to my children's schooldays in Germany, is Pelikan (a very old manufacturer), which I've now remembered was the maker of my old 'calligraphic' pen set, which was very like the set offered by Osmiroid at $11.97. Osmiroid is now made in China, by the way.

Berol is known to me only as a maker of fiber pens; it does offer an 'italic' fibre pen, but that doesn't give the variable spread that you get with a split nib; it may be what you mean though.

That was a suggestion going back to my schooldays. Another suggestion, going back to my children's schooldays in Germany, is Pelikan (a very old manufacturer), which I've now remembered was the maker of my old 'calligraphic' pen set, which was very like the set offered by Osmiroid at $12.95. Osmiroid is now made in China, by the way.

Berol is known to me only as a maker of fiber pens; it does offer an 'italic' fiber pen, but that doesn't give the variable spread that you get with a split nib; it may be what you mean though. Pelikan is sold here at art supply stores — I have many of their pens, including flat-nibbed styles.

Osmiroid was acquired by Berol. And the Berol pen I have (and want more of) is, as I said, a fountain pen — not a felt-tipped or other modern sort of thing. It may also be as dead as the dodo, alas.

I use a Waterman fountain pen - in UK we have Parker, Scheffer and the expensive Mont Blanc pens.

All the talk of pens brought back childhood memories of inky fingers and blots: I am left-handed, and for many years had a "real" Osmiroid refillable pen in silver pearly plastic, with a left-handed italic nib, which has a 45 degree angle in it to try and counteract the inherent awkwardness of pushing the nib instead of pulling it. You'd never think so seeing my crabbed scrawl today, but I used to win prizes for my immaculate italic handwriting in my youth. Years of keyboarding and slight arthritis have put paid to that !

I use a Waterman fountain pen - in UK we have Parker, Scheffer and the expensive Mont Blanc. Montblanc sure is expensive (we have those here too), and I was never able to persuade myself they were worth the money (to me, I mean).

We also have Parker and Schaefer (I think those are American brands, or were, back in the day when countries produced most of their own goods). And I have three Watermans I like, all acquired in France. I suppose someone here must sell them, but in Paris they are like low-hanging fruit, dangling in front of me wherever I go!

Waterman was the chap that invented fountain pens, but the company he founded in England is now owned by Gilette, as is Parker and Rotring.

Years of keyboarding and slight arthritis have put paid to that !Same here! I used to get lots of praise for my handwriting as a schoolchild, but can now barely sign my name. My mother, who is almost totally blind with immaculate degeneration still has a beautiful signature and legible handwriting, and my father, who had Alzheimer's, could still sign credit card vouchers legibly until the time he had to be institutionalized, fairly late in the progression of the disease. I've always favored Rotring fountain pens as being well made - though not necessarilly cheap.

Do any of you in Europe or elsewhere have sources for (Berol Fontaine) pens?

I have had a bunch of these (5 blue, 8 black) in my desk for years. I think I ordered them because I liked the Pilot disposables when I was in Japan, and the Berols were the only ones available in our stationery catalog. I can't remember why I stopped using them. If your address hasn't changed since the last time I sent you something (about six years ago), I'll send these, too.

I have had a bunch of these (5 blue, 8 black) in my desk for years. I think I ordered them because I liked the Pilot disposables when I was in Japan, and the Berols were the only ones available in our stationery catalog. I can't remember why I stopped using them. If your address hasn't changed since the last time I sent you something (about six years ago), I'll send these, too.My address has changed. I’ll send the new one to you.

It is difficult to see why you don't invest in a small bottle of ink then, or if you want to keep it simple, why you don't add to that a ordinary dip pen (though then you might really be scratching around for a supplier).Maybe it would make things clearer if I explain that I have thousands of pens, all types: fountain pens (calligraphy, writing, drawing, ruling), stick pens, with nibs for show card lettering, calligraphy, drawing, and writing), bamboo drawing pens, goose quill pens (very hard to use), felt-tipped pens of all sorts, and more.

This particular pen, however, is a nice sketcher and decent writer — and happens to be disposable, which means the ink is sealed up inside, so I can throw it into my handbag without fear of a leak. I want more, but cannot have them. The Pilot disposable, to my recollection, is much less wonderful, but I guess that’s all there is for now.

The Pilot disposable is okay; the unavailable Berol Fontaine is wonderful. But that’s always the way: the one you want is the one you cannot have!

I wonder if the modern Osmiroids even have left-handed nibs as an option. They must, I suppose — there are enough calligraphers around to support that, especially as they already have the tooling.

My handwriting is also pathetic now; some days I can scarcely sign my name legibly! But I still try, and when thinking about typefaces, like to start with pen-written characters. Helps keep the computer in its place!

Still not looking for calligraphy pens though — I just want my simple fountain pen, one that doesn’t leak, that writes (and draws) smoothly, and doesn’t call for any fuss.

A little while ago a supplier sent me a Rotring Core fountain pen as recompense for a delayed order. It looks a little odd but is superb to use and very comfortable to use. It's quite chunky and that makes it easy to grip -- in fact it's the most comfortable pen I've ever used.

It's not designed to be disposable. Though rich people might treat it as such the rest of us would use standard ink cartridges.

A little while ago a supplier sent me a Rotring Core fountain pen as recompense for a delayed order. It looks a little odd but is superb to use and very comfortable to use. It's quite chunky and that makes it easy to grip -- in fact it's the most comfortable pen I've ever used.

It's not designed to be disposable. Though rich people might treat it as such the rest of us would use standard ink cartridges.