Tibaldi Bentley Writing Instrument

On 20 October, 1916, “the first and most important Italian manufacturer of fountain pens” (as recorded on the certificate of registration) was established in Florence, or Italian Firenze, capital city of the region of Tuscany. The new firm was called Tibaldi & Co. Miraculously, and gratifyingly to all who claim affection, and even passion, for literature, the written word in general, and the instruments that make belles lettres possible, Tibaldi not only survived both the First and Second World Wars, but thrived between them, despite them, and after the latter. Throughout the twentieth century, people from all walks of life, be they great writers, or everyday people wishing to write down their thoughts, have savoured Tibaldi’s elegant, reliable scrivening instruments.

Writing instruments are a means of recording and communicating our thoughts. Writing is a way of expressing our very identity. A hundred years ago, we used a typewriter, today we use a PC, and tomorrow, who knows? Maybe an electronic device will convert our thoughts into words; computers already transmute speech. However, when we speak of handwriting, the image conjured up in our minds is indisputably one of the classical writing instrument par excellence—a pen, and, for the purest, a fountain pen. Tibaldi’s Excelsa Limited Edition encompasses, in appearance and craftsmanship, the continuum from artistic masterpiece, to refined, technologically superior utensil.

The twentieth century heralded vast technological innovation in the field of writing instruments, the market flooding with an abundance of pens. Some enabled easier writing, while others were veritable treasures, created with rare materials, worthy of heirloom status to collect and cherish. Tibaldi pens are at once bejewelled accessories and works of technological innovation, commemorating or celebrating historical events, and cultural beliefs and, or myths. The Da Vinci Code Limited Edition is just such a pen.

Nonetheless, at heart they are all chirographic implements, tools designed for unerring comfort and endurance. Just like Tibaldi’s early 20th century pens, they are easily imagined—and indeed seen—on the desks of some of the world’s most influential writers, many of whom were born in the country where Tibaldi pens were conceived.