His Nibs.com Update
Cambria, Invincia & Gandhi
October 16, 2005

Monteverde Cambria

It seems that recently many people have come to
associate Monteverde pens with some of
their smaller models, such as the Diva (http://www.hisnibs.com/diva.htm [1]),
Oceana (http://www.hisnibs.com/oceana.htm [2]),
Grafica (http://www.hisnibs.com/grafica.htm [3]) and
Sonata (http://www.hisnibs.com/sonata.htm [4]).

It's two of their terrific full-size, some would even
say over-size (a constantly evolving definition it
seems) models that I want to draw attention to this
week. Those are the Cambria (http://www.hisnibs.com/cambria.htm [5])
and the Invincia (http://www.hisnibs.com/invincia.htm [6]).

On the blog we have an interesting story about the
Ratnam fountain pen company of India, and of their
presentation of a special fountain pen to Gandhi in
1935.

No doubt many of you saw the World Premeire of
Big Box Mart this past Thursday evening on
Jay Leno's Tonight Show. This short animated
cartoon was brought to you by JibJab (http://www.jibjab.com/Home.aspx [7]),
the same folks who had a hit with "This Land is your
Land" last year during the presidential race. Anyway,
they asked for photo submissions of people who
would like to be included in this new production, and
selected 1000 of them (a very select group), and I'm
sure that you'll all be thrilled that His Nibs
was one of those selected. Even though I haven't
found myself in the group photos yet (!), I'll always
be able to say I was on the Tonight Show! I've
included a copy of the photo selected, as an early
Halloween scare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
* Monteverde Cambria
* Monteverde Invincia
* On the blog....Gandhi's pen
* JibJab's Big Box Mart

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monteverde Cambria

"The Monteverde Cambria is a work of art and writes
great." Bill M., Merced, CA

"I think it's a wonderful pen, classic simple design,
great weight and very well made. Its my favorite of
all the Monteverde ones so far." Roy W., Glasgow, UK

"The Cambria arrived. It is beautiful and writes like a
dream. I had been looking for a pen that was
reminiscent of my grandfather's, and this one is
that." M.J., Mooresville, IN

The fountain pen measures a bit over 5-1/4" capped
and 6-1/2" posted. This is an over-sized pen, midway
between a Pelikan 800 and Montblanc 149 in length
and girth, with a nice heft and terrific balance.

Read more here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/cambria.htm [8]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monteverde Invincia

The Invincia was one of the very first pen designs by
Monteverde, and has remained one of the most
popular.

More here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/invincia.htm [9]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the blog....Gandhi's pen

"Great Indians ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to Indira
Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad to Shankar Dayal Sharma, S.
Kasturiranga Iyengar of The Hindu to Ramnath
Goenka of Indian Express, had one thing in common:
they used pens supplied from this town in coastal
Andhra Pradesh. Ratnam pens, known as `swadeshi'
pens, during the freedom movement, brought laurels
to Rajahmundry and the pen-maker K.V. Ratnam.

The pen has many unique features. And you can
order one of your choice.
During the swadeshi movement, after Gandhiji gave a
call to boycott foreign goods, Ratnam, who was until
then involved in making lithographic blocks, met
Gandhiji in 1921. Gandhiji advised him to make
something that would be useful to the common man
and that was inexpensive.

Ratnam made a pen made in ebonite material and
sent it to Gandhiji, who wrote to him commending it.
Gandhiji wrote from Wardha: 'Dear Ratnam, I must
thank you for the fountain pen you sent me... I have
needed it and [it] seems to be a good substitute to
the foreign pen, once in the bazaar. Yours sincerely,
M.K. Gandhi, 16.7.1935. '"

Click here to read more... - http://hisnibs.blogspot.com [10]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JibJab's Big Box Mart

Now, moving from the sublime image of Gandhi to the
ridiculous image of His Nibs (they *did* want funny
pictures, and I figured that this qualified)...we
present the winning entry.

View Big Box Mart.... - http://lab.jibjab.com/Movies/BoxMart.html [11]

Regards,

Norman Haase
His Nibs.com
www.hisnibs.com [12]
Blog: http://hisnibs.blogspot.com [13]