When I grew up in 1940s and 1950s Britain, many more
letters were written than today. This was because there was no email, and
telephoning was very
expensive indeed by the norms of the time. In fact telephoning has become
progressively cheaper in real terms over the years.
Fountain pens and ink
We wrote with pen and ink. By the 1950s I, like most children, had
graduated from a pen which had to be dipped into ink to a fountain pen.

Ink bottle containing black ink. Photographed in Milton Keynes Museum
Fountain pens had to be filled with ink using a rubber balloon-like
arrangement inside which was squeezed to suck up the ink from an ink bottle. (Much later ink cartridges were available which dispensed with the
messy business of having to fill the pen.)
Fountain pens had the
advantage over the old
style pens because they didn't have
to be repeatedly dipped into ink. The flow of ink was smooth and continuous which made the
writing appear much neater. However fountain pens did tend to leak, and one
had to let the ink dry on a page before turning it over or folding it.
Blotting paper was available but never seemed to be on hand when needed
in ordinary homes. Better-off homes and businesses had all these
things ready laid out on desks, often in matching sets.
A range of fountain pens were sold with different width nibs and with
different body colour and decoration. Some were quite expensive and
seemed to be a status symbol. Like many status symbols, they were often sold in
plush padded boxes and with matching propelling pencils - a common fall-back
birthday or Christmas present. Silver propelling pencils also
seemed to be status symbols, but I never saw any that weren't tarnished and
dirty-looking. They didn't appeal to me at all.
Everyone seemed to be very fussy about no-one else using their fountain pen, as the
pressure of a different hand was supposed to spoil the nib for the original
user. I don't know how true this was, but it seemed to maintain the status
symbol image.
The following images are courtesy of Heritage Vintage Pens who sell and
repair such pens.

Old lever-style fountain pen with its top screwed on for carrying around.
Note the lever at the side.

Old fountain pen ready for use, with its top unscrewed and pushed onto the
back of the pen. This not only held it tidily, it also lengthened the
pen making its balance better for writing.

Inside the fountain pen showing the rubber ink reservoir - for
illustrative purposes only as the pen could be filled with ink without
opening it up.
When the pen was empty of ink, It was filled by dipping the nib into ink
and repeatedly using a finger nail to pull out and let go the lever on
the side. This accordingly squashed and released the reservoir drawing
ink up into it. It was full when the process no longer generated bubbles
in the ink.
The flow of ink from this type of pen was smooth resulting in uniform
writing.
Paper for writing letters: notepaper
Everyone seemed to own writing paper, known as notepaper. It was another standard birthday or
Christmas present when one didn't know what else to buy.
Notepaper could be any size but it was usually something between A4
and A5, not that these sizes had been heard of at the time. (Foolscap -
which was longer than A4) was
the standard size for business use.)
Probably white was
the only colour available for notepaper during World War
Two and the shortages afterwards but I can't be sure. I have better
recollections from the 1950s and 1960s when the most popular and widely sold
colour seemed to be pale blue.
Headed notepaper
Some individuals and some households had their notepaper pre-printed with their address at the top right hand side
of the page.
This was known as headed notepaper. It could be bought to order at any stationers and was another
standard present.
Sometimes instead of being pre-printed, writing paper was embossed at the time of use with a
customised embosser - yet another standard present.
Personalised notepaper started to go out of fashion
in the 1960s as phone numbers began a series of changes, first from letter
area codes to numerical ones, and then with added digits to accommodate new
subscribers. Addresses also changed with the advent of postcodes. This meant
that existing pre-printed stationery and embossers had to be repeatedly
discarded and re-bought as no longer current - an expensive and annoying business.
In the 1940s and 1950s, though, the likes of our
family simply wrote our addresses in handwriting at the top right-hand corner
of the page every time we wrote a letter. Anything else would have seemed
pretentious. In fact, for fear of seeming pretentious, my mother often
preferred to use what she called a 'scrap of paper' rather than notepaper.
Envelopes
Envelopes were usually bought at the same time as writing paper to make a
matching set, and were of a size to fit the notepaper when
it was folded either into four or into three lengthways.

Man licking the flap of an
envelope to dampen it for sticking down. Screenshot from an old film.
The flaps of envelopes were edged with a gum that had to be moistened to
stick. Businesses that were sending out numerous letters had a
sponge arrangement in a dish of water, so that staff merely had to press the edge of the
flap onto the sponge to make it sticky.
Ordinary people, though, simply
licked. The taste was not at all pleasant but we knew no different.
This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as
Join me in the 1900's and is ©
Pat Cryer.
The 1940s and 1950s are also written as the 1940's and 1950's.