“The Golden Age of the Fountain Pen in NSK Manuscripts” exhibition on view by 15 December
On 3 December 2024, the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) hosted the opening The Golden Age of the Fountain Pen in NSK Manuscripts exhibition, the final event of the Library’s programme marking the 130th anniversary of the founding of the Library’s Manuscripts and Old Books Collection, NSK’s oldest special collection.
Organised with the support of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media and remaining on view by 15 December 2024, the exhibition spotlights the Collection’s treasures such as the autograph manuscripts of the world-famous Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža (1893-1981), letters of the internationally acclaimed Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962) and those of Albert Einstein to Croatian world-renowned mathematician Vladimir Varićak, using this valuable material in giving an overview of the development throughout history of the fountain pen.
An homage to Its Majesty the Fountain Pen
The exhibition opened with a welcome address by the NSK Director General Dr Ivanka Stričević and an introduction by the Head of the NSK Manuscripts and Old Books Collection Dr Irena Galić Bešker, who both emphasised the Collection’s importance as the treasure trove of some of the most valuable works of Croatian written heritage.
Before the addresses by the authors of the exhibition Ivan Kapec and Iva Perinić, who are also the members of the Collection’s staff, the present visitors heard an inspired performance by Branimir Norac of Apóspasma Philoktḗtou, written exclusively for the exhibition’s opening by vibraphone player and composer Šimun Matišić, who donated the composition’s autograph manuscript written with a fountain pen to the NSK Music Collection, some of whose manuscript treasures are also displayed as part of the exhibition.
The last to address the visitors at the opening was a renowned writing implement designer Vladimir Valić, whose brilliant portfolio includes the fountain pens that he exclusively designed for the Pope, Michael Schumacher, Quincy Jones, Pablo Coelho, the members of the Queen band and other celebrities.
The art of constructing fountain pens – and the magic of writing with them
The visitors at the opening had the opportunity to learn more about the construction of fountain pens as well as about the technique that writing with a fountain pen requires and try themselves at it in a workshop. Held in cooperation with Torpedo GB, a Rijeka-based writing implements manufacturer whose team includes Mr Valić, the workshop was part of the exhibition programme focusing on the main inventors and patents owing to which this sophisticated 19th-century innovation revolutionised the technology of writing and thus significantly sped up the exchange of information, data, ideas and knowledge.
Apart from the valuable manuscripts by the canonical Croatian writers Tin Ujević, Antun Gustav Matoš and Antun Branko Šimić, composers Jakov Gotovac, Fran Lhotka and Ivan Brkanović, as well as physician and researcher Zora Voneš, also displayed as part of the exhibition are the fountain pens manufactured in Zagreb in the mid-20th century by the Penkala–Edmund Moster & Co. company which today are preserved at Peroklinika, one of the oldest workshops for repairing fountain pens in Europe, founded back in 1941.
