(This is a guest post by Eric Nuzum. Eric is a writer from Montclair, New Jersey on a quest to just write legibly for once in his life. That quest led him to fall in love with fountain pens and now wishes “ink sommelier” was an actual job.)
What does Paris have to offer a visiting fountain pen enthusiast?
This should be an easy question to answer. Paris is the City of Lights…the City of Love….a high point of European art, culture, design, and sophistication. And France has had an illustrious history with writing instruments, home to Waterman, ST Dupont, J Herbin, Clairefontaine/Rhodia, and other prestigious historic brands (let alone the country where Bic still manufactures a billion Cristal pens every year).
Surely the answer is plentiful, right?
Not so fast.
I recently found myself asking this question before a family trip to Paris over the holidays to visit my wife’s cousin. I was surprised by how little current information I was able to find. Most blog posts and Reddit threads I found were a decade old–and after some quick searching, it seemed that some of the most often-mentioned stores didn’t make it through the pandemic era. So I took some scraps of information I found, excused myself from my family for a few hours every day, and proceeded to hunt. I thought I’d share what I found to help future Paris visitors make the most of your time.
Let’s start with my favorites:
L’Ecritoire (26 Passage Molière–a quick walk from Hotel de Ville)
The name translates to “writing case” or “inkwell” and lived up to its name. It is a small store hidden in an alley, but the entire shop is dedicated to writing instruments and material. There is a modest collection of fountain pens from traditional budget and midrange brands, a small collection of inks (including a few of their own ink line), and an impressive collection of less-common items, like actual quills cut to be pens, glass pens, and other writing ephemera.
I saw this in a number of stores, including here at L’ Ecritoire: vintage stationery items and bottles of ink–some still full–displayed on top of retail shelves.
Most of the store space is dedicated to paper, cards, and journals–and the collection is very impressive. In all, a lovely curated selection of items. I highly recommend and would visit here again.
My haul from this store: Two petite bottles of their house inks (Blue Nuit and Prune), a nice nib holder, a wax seal, and a set of six of their house sealing wax sticks.
Magasin Sennelier (3 Quai Voltaire, directly across the Seine from the Louvre Museum)
If you were a location scout and a movie studio called and said “Find us an old looking art supply store as a setting for scenes in our late 19th century movie,” you would get a bonus for pointing them to Sennelier. It is Paris’s oldest art supply store–and just across the river from the Louvre and down the street from the Musee D’Orsay to boot. The fixtures, cabinets, and display cases, are all vintage–as well as things like the thin, winding staircases and incredibly wonky floors.
Image via the Magasin Sennelier website.
At first you might think Sennelier is just a really cool old art supply store, but I’d advise a perilous climb up to the 3rd floor, where you’ll find their collection of drawing, calligraphy, fountain pens, ink, markers, and supplies, plus the largest collection of handmade Japanese papers (including large rolls) that I’d ever seen anywhere. There’s a broad selection of J. Herbin, Sailor, Pilot, and a few other ink lines. Not a very wide range of fountain pens in sight (though an impressive collection of art markers), but there was quite a number of calligraphy nibs and nib holders.
My haul from this store: Two 10ml bottles of Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo and Tsutsuji ink (while I could buy these inks many places, I’d never seen smaller bottles like these before).
Melodies Graphiques (10 Rue du Pont Louis-philippe in The Marais) Two twin storefronts, side by side, with separate entrances lead to an amazing collection of paper, writing instruments, cards, journals, and other calligraphy and stationery items. To be honest, this place felt kinda magical. There is a lot that’s unusual about this store, including its array of opening hours. We first tried to visit on a day they were completely closed (to be fair, we were there the week between Christmas and New Years), and we could see little beyond the slightly dusty and sun-bleached window displays. Yet you could tell from those that the store had an impressive collection of items, including pens and inks, but couldn’t really tell what was going on inside until we returned the next day. And boy, was it worth the return trip.
In addition to a beautiful and extensive collection of stationery of all kinds, the store had an incredible vibe: part sideshow, part Victorian parlour, part artist’s studio, and part museum.
More old ink bottles.
The store had so much to offer that I went through each side twice to take it all in. I’d probably rate this a must see and would put it on the top of any list of fountain pen enthusiast destinations in Paris.
My haul from this store: Three bottles of Callifolio ink (Oconto, Gris de Payne, and Bleu Azur), two reproductions of antique calligraphy workbooks (entirely in French, which I don’t speak at all, but hey, pretty letters are pretty letters), and a lovely 10-pack of printed and embossed cards (that are fountain pen friendly).
Now, the “mixed bag”:
Palais du Stylo. A tiny brick and mortar pen store near the Paris Opera House. While any pen retailer is something to celebrate, for a visitor to Paris, the store offers little that you couldn’t find on dozens of web sites and retailers. Lots of mid-range pens from Lamy, Pilot, Waterman, Cross, Montegrappa, Parker, and more. Probably more useful to locals than anything to offer to out of town visitors.
Point Plume. A higher end boutique, again, with a selection of pens easily found almost anywhere, but this time quality brands like Montblanc, Sailor, Namiki, ST Dupont, Pelikan and others. It is the kind of store that you need to be buzzed through the front door in order to browse. The only inks and accessories they had were tied to the brands they carried. While a beautiful assortment of pens, there was nothing that would compel most out-of-towners.
Department Stores. Many of the threads and posts I’d read directed readers to visit major department stores, which all supposedly had stationery departments. I found this to technically be true, but often I’d have to fight my way through a large department store to find the “stationery department”--which amounted to a small display of Moleskine and Leuchtturm1917 notebooks and journals and maybe a few pens (but rarely fountain pens). I’ve heard there were some exceptions, but gave up on pursuing these after a few strikeouts.
The one exception I found was Le BVH Marais at 52 Rue de Rivoli–a massive department store that I visited on my second attempt to see Melodies Graphiques (which is only two blocks away). What I saw there was one of the most impressive stationery departments I’d ever seen inside a large retailer, anywhere. And a huge emphasis on French pens, inks, and paper products. I’d totally put this on a short list of places to visit, if for no other reason than the great collection of French products.
Oddly, I didn’t pick up anything here, but it was a welcome and impressive collection.
I had a few strikeouts too.
Buci News. Every post and thread I read pointed me towards a tiny store in the Latin Quarter called Buci News. I found it, but immediately noticed that the name “Buci News” was no longer on the front of the store. Inside, it was more of a cross between a convenience store and an office supply store. There was a selection of Rhodia paper pads, but little else that would be considered “stationery” items.
Le Carré d’Encre. Again, this store was present on many lists and was still open. Its name translates to “The Ink Square” so I figured it would be a hit. But unfortunately it was closed for the holidays.
Overall, I’d say I was a bit underwhelmed by what I found in Paris. Some stores that were definitely worth seeing and seeking out, but in a city like Paris, especially considering the French history with writing instruments and stationery, I expected more. That said, if any fountain pen and ink enthusiast finds themselves in Paris, hunting down these shops not only gives you a taste of the city you might otherwise miss, but also is a gratifying way to show and share your love for fine writing.
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