My grandfather taught penmanship. He began in the 1920s and continued until his retirement from teaching high school in the 1950s. Each year, the Esterbrook Pen Company sent my grandfather a few pens in the hopes that he would demonstrate them in his classes. Whether he did, I don't know. He passed in 1957 when I was still bouncing on knees. All I know is that I inherited a cardboard box full of Esterbrook pens. It was like a little treasure chest.
In 1856 Esterbrook became one of the first steel nib manufacturers in the United States. Prior to the Civil War, people still used quills, cut with pen knives. In 1920 the company introduced its first fountain pen, providing the mainstream market with a high-quality writing instrument at a reasonable price. It filled from an inkwell or bottle, as did all fountain pens then. It was a rugged little pen with a steel nib and came in a variety of colors
True Writer Carries on the Tradition
Esterbrook, after being one of the most popular pens around, failed to make a successful transition to the jet-age era of ballpoints. But their vibrant colors, affordability and robust reliability provided the inspiration for our first True Writer, launched in 1999. Today, we're proud to offer the True Writer Fountain Pen, Rollerball and Ballpoint in a panoply of colors and styles, as well as vivid ink refills to go with them. In your hand, their lustrous barrels are even more vibrant than our photography pros can show you. The marvel is that such a rich-looking pen can be so reasonably priced, just as the old Esterbrooks were. (As an aside, we were thrilled to see Esterbrook make its return in 2018 and couldn't be happier to offer their pens again).
We needed a name for our pen that would convey the sensibility and flair of what we hoped would be an enduring series of pens. We came up with "True Writer," which seemed to capture the essence of a tool that would stay true, write after write. It sold. And it still sells. It's incredible to think that we have sold over 250,000 in the last 20 years.
I hope you enjoy the updated True Writer visual history below and I invite you to read more about the True Writer on my blog.
—Steve Leveen
cofounder, Levenger