Usually, it helps to take claims of historical authenticity with a grain of salt… That famous dead writers used your notebooks, for example, or that James Dean wore your khakis.
This is closer to the real deal. In 2004, J. Herbin discovered an authorization in its archives by the writer Victor Hugo to produce a black ink especially for him. The authorization remains in the archives, but the recipe has since been remade into a couple of bottles of ink. Karen managed to get her hands on one of them, and was then kind enough to pass it along to me.
This is not a fountain pen ink; Hugo wrote with goose quills, though steel nibs were becoming increasingly popular. Personally, I haven’t had much luck with feathers, but that did not put me off from trying it out with a glass pen. And what fun it was! The ink is shiny, dense, and saturated. It pops on bright white Clairefontaine and looks handsome on my ivory Habana, too. Because it’s so thick, you have to be a little more careful about bleed-through, and clean your pen carefully (and immediately) after you’re done. Still, it’s an awfully fun ink to play with. About the only complaint I have is that the bottle cap’s a bit finicky and is tough to get off and on.
There aren’t very many bottles left, but if it’s something that interests you, please let us know in the comments, and we’ll ask Herbin if they’d be willing to make more.
Here’s a picture of the bottle:
9 Comments
Gentian
Thanks for sharing this with us! Exciting when companies have such a long history that something like this can happen.
penemuel
That’s really fascinating. Not something I’d use, but I’d love to see what the bottle looks like…
Patrick @ The Norsk Woodshop
Thanks for sharing Leah! I agree with penemule’s comments…I don’t think I would use this type of ink but is the bottle cool looking (i.e. vintage) or something new?
Leah Hoffmann
Whoops, sorry guys – I totally forgot to photograph the bottle! I’ll upload a picture ASAP.
B Irwin
There’s a sizable calligraphy community over on the Fountain Pen Network and they use dip pens with appropriate nibs for this. I recommend you post a link over there in Market Watch and [pun alert] watch the bottles fly off the shelf.
David Harrison
It’s not easy to be excited by a black ink but I would make an exception for this! Well worth buying a bottle for curiosity’s sake. And if it doesn’t automatically impart Hugo’s storytelling abilities it will still do fine for the diary…
Eric
I would say make it a limited edition and sell it in a unique bottle.
Ellen Simpson
Great idea for Bastille Day. The ink should be interesting for sketching, especially over watercolor wash on watercolor paper. The bottle is fabulous.