Canongate inks Simon Garfield's 'idiosyncratic' history of the pen

Canongate has signed up Simon Garfield’s "lively, idiosyncratic and global history" of the pen, from the instruments used on the Magna Carta to "worldwide influence of the humble Bic biro".

C.e.o. Jamie Byng bought world rights in The Pen from Rosemary Scoular at United Agents. David Drake at Crown/PRH has pre-empted the US rights in the project and will publish the book alongside Canongate in the autumn of 2026.

The book will look at the writing implements used in at important historical events, such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and will be marked by "the invisible ink sent between lovers, the iron gall ink used by Chaucer and still hand-made today, the ink replaced with an explosive device for James Bond’s Parker pen in ’GoldenEye’."

It will also look at obsessive pen collectors, "stalkers of auction houses and the internet, lusting after the Tibaldi Fulgor Nocturnus, the Montblanc Boheme Royal and the Caran d’Ache 1010".

Garfield has written bestselling non-fiction on a wide range of topics, such as fonts (Just My Type), the history of encyclopedias (All the Knowledge in the World) and the AIDS crisis (The End of Innocence).

He said: "Writing about the pen is such a natural choice for me, and such an exciting one. It’s something I’ve cared about since childhood, and today its history seems more important than ever. I’m going to take the reader on a surprising and very enjoyable journey.”

Byng added: "All of us at Canongate felt that there was no one better equipped to write such a book than Simon Garfield, so we are delighted that this perfect match of subject and writer will be consummated in what I am confident will not only be a fascinating, unexpected and entertaining book but an international bestseller.”