This book was first published in 2000. It’s still available and is priced at £42.08, new, in Amazon. It’s quite often available second-hand.

Subtitled “United States of America and United Kingdom”, it’s very ambitious in scope, trying to cover these two enormous pen industries in a modestly-sized volume. The surprise is the degree to which it succeeds. Many smaller manufacturers are ignored and others are touched on only lightly, but Lambrou’s judgement is good about which marques and models to cover. There’s a lot of bling in here, as with all pen books, but the pens you and I will commonly see and want to know about are well covered. The photography is excellent, and really useful for identification purposes. There are also excellent line drawings and intelligent use of period advertising.

More than just a comprehensive introduction to the pens of the USA and Britain and a really good read, this book makes a useful reference as it’s logically organised and has a good index. I’ve had my copy for about three years, and already the jacket is tattered from much handling – the best sign of approval for a book of this kind!

Lambrou does repeat the story about there only having been 200 Conway Stewart 22 (Floral) pens made, but perhaps this can be forgiven as it was widely believed to be true, back when this book was written. He’s at variance with some other authors over a few dates, but I’m not able to say who’s right and who’s wrong.

Taken all in all, this is one of the best fountain pen books, and one that deserves a place on every enthusiast’s bookshelf.