A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen/steel-nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen.
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 by modern calligraphers, however, it is still the tool of choice for a few scribes who claim that quills provide an unmatched sharp stroke as well as a greater assortment in writing modes, customisation, and line variability.
Description
The shaft of a flight feather is long and hollow, making it an obvious option for being crafted into a pen. The process of making a quill from a feather involves curing the shaft, typically by drying in air or hot sand or ashes to harden it. Then fashioning the tip into a nib using a pen knife or other sharp cutting tool. A quill pen is in effect a hollow tube which has one closed end, and has one open end at which part of the tube wall extends into a sharp point and has in it a thin slit leading to this point. The hollow shaft of the feather (the calamus) acts as an ink reservoir and ink flows to the tip through the slit by capillary action. The calligrapher Edward Johnston, writing in 1906, recommended inserting a thin metal strip, curved to form a spring, into the shaft to better retain the ink, especially if writing on a flat surface, although he advised using a writing slope so that the quill could be held horizontally. In a carefully prepared quill, the slit does not widen through wetting with ink and drying. It will retain its shape adequately, requiring only infrequent sharpening.
Sources
The strongest quills come from the primary flight feathers discarded by birds during their annual moult. Although some have claimed that feathers from the left wing are better suited to right-handed writers because the feather curves away from the sight line, over the back of the hand, quills are usually cut to six to eight inches in length so no such consideration of curvature or sight-line is necessary. Additionally, writing with the left hand in the era in which the quill was popular was discouraged, and quills were never sold as left- and right-handed, only by their size and species. Goose feathers are most commonly used for regular writing; scarcer, more expensive swan feathers are used for larger lettering. Depending on availability and strength of the feather, as well as quality and characteristic of the line wanted by the writer, other bird feathers used for quill-pen making include but are not limited to those from the crow, eagle, owl, turkey, and hawk. Crow feathers were particularly useful as quills when fine writing, such as accounting books, was required. Each bird could supply only about 10 to 12 good-quality quills. On a true quill, the barbs are stripped off completely on the trailing edge. (The pinion for example only has significant barbs on one side of the barrel.) Later, a fashion developed for stripping partially and leaving a decorative top of a few barbs. The fancy, fully plumed quill is mostly a later Romantic, Victorian, and Hollywood invention and was not common in reality. Most, if not all, manuscript illustrations of scribes show a quill devoid of decorative barbs, or at least mostly stripped.
Uses
Quill pens were used to write the vast majority of medieval manuscripts. Quill pens were used to write Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson bred geese specially at Monticello to supply his need for quills. 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. From the 17th to 19th centuries, the central tube of the quill was used as a priming tube (filled with gunpowder) for cannon fire.
History
The quill pen evolved from the reed pen, of Egyptian origin. Quills were the primary writing instrument in the barbarian kingdoms from the 6th to the 19th century. The best quills were usually made from goose, swan, and later turkey feathers. Quills went into decline after the invention of the steel pen, mass production beginning in Great Britain as early as 1822 by John Mitchell of Birmingham. In the Eastern Mediterranean and much of the Islamic world, quills were not used as writing implements. Only reed pens were used as writing implements.
Quill pens were the instrument of choice during the medieval era due to their compatibility with parchment and vellum. Before this, the larger reed pen had been used, but a finer letter was achieved on animal skin using a cured quill. Other than written text, they were often used to create figures, decorations, and images on manuscripts, although many illuminators and painters preferred fine brushes for their work. The fine and flexible tip allowed for a variety of different strokes. Quills are denominated from the order in which they are fixed in the wing; the first is favoured by the expert calligrapher, the second and third quills also being satisfactory, together with the pinion feather. The 5th and 6th feathers are also used. No other feather on the wing would be considered suitable by a professional scribe. Information can be obtained on the techniques of curing and cutting quills:
In order to harden a quill that is soft, thrust the barrel into hot ashes, stirring it till it is soft; then taking it out, press it almost flat upon your knees with the back of a penknife, and afterwards reduce it to a roundness with your fingers. If you have a number to harden, set water and alum over the fire; and while it is boiling put in a handful of quills, the barrels only, for a minute, and then lay them by. An accurate account of the Victorian process by William Bishop, from research with one of the last London quill dressers, is recorded in the Calligrapher's Handbook cited on this page.
As a symbol
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