Quill
A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird.[1] Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal-nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen.[2]
For other uses, see Quill (disambiguation).As with the earlier reed pen (and later dip pen), a quill has no internal ink reservoir and therefore needs to periodically be dipped into an inkwell during writing. The hand-cut goose quill is rarely used as a calligraphy tool anymore because many papers are now derived from wood pulp and would quickly wear a quill down. However it is still the tool of choice for a few scribes who have noted that quills provide an unmatched sharp stroke as well as greater flexibility than a steel pen.
Uses[edit]
Quill pens were used to write the vast majority of medieval manuscripts. Quill pens were also used to write Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence.[2] U.S. President Thomas Jefferson bred geese specially at Monticello to supply his tremendous need for quills.[7][8]
Quill pens are still used today mainly by professional scribes and calligraphers.
Quills are also used as the plectrum material in string instruments, particularly the harpsichord.[11]
From the 17th to 19th centuries, the central tube of the quill was used as a priming tube (filled with gunpowder) for cannon fire.[12]
Quill and pen knives[edit]
A quill knife was the original primary tool used for cutting and sharpening quills, a process known as "dressing".
Following the decline of the quill in the 1820s, after the introduction of the maintenance-free, mass-produced steel dip nib by John Mitchell, knives were still manufactured but became known as desk knives, stationery knives or latterly as the name stuck "pen" knives.
There is a small but significant difference between a pen knife and a quill knife, in that the quill knife has a blade that is flat on one side and convex on the other which facilitates the round cuts required to shape a quill.
A "pen" knife by contrast has two flat sides. This distinction is not recognised by modern traders, dealers or collectors, who define a quill knife as any small knife with a fixed or hinged blade, including such items as ornamental fruit knives.
Today[edit]
While quills are rarely used as writing instruments in the modern day, they are still being produced as specialty items, mostly for hobbyists. Such quills tend to have metal nibs or are sometimes even outfitted with a ballpoint pen inside to remove the need for a separate source of ink.
According to the Supreme Court Historical Society, 20 goose-quill pens, neatly crossed, are placed at the four counsel tables each day the U.S. Supreme Court is in session;[2] "most lawyers appear before the Court only once, and gladly take the quills home as souvenirs."[17] This has been done since the earliest sessions of the Court.[18]
In the Jewish tradition quill pens, called kulmus (קולמוס), are used by scribes to write Torah Scrolls, Mezuzot, and Tefillin.[19]
Music[edit]
Plectra for psalteries and lutes can be cut similarly to writing pens. The rachis, the portion of the stem between the barbs, not the calamus, of the primary flight feathers of birds of the Corvidae was preferred for harpsichords. In modern instruments, plastic is more common, but they are often still called "quills".[11] The lesiba uses a quill attached to a string to produce sound.