Pencils You Should Know by Caroline Weaver, a review.

I should start this review by letting you in on a small but very relevant secret; this is my first book review.

Now I appreciate it may seem a little odd that I’m writing a review about a book about pencils, especially as the majority of my posts are related to fountain pens, inks and notebooks.

However, I do have a small but respectable collection of pencils that sadly do not get the attention they deserve as they live in two separate storage boxes. Which means they tend to get overlooked when planning and writing a reviews, however, Caroline’s book has inspired me to dig them out and add them to the review pile.

Ok, so the book itself is a bright colourful slimline edition that has been designed to resemble an old-fashioned box of pencils, it has solid front and rear covers that are attached to a separate spine helping to give it the feel of a pencil box.

It starts with an introduction, from Caroline, followed by the ‘anecdotes’; these are set out across a two page spread with the anecdote on the left page and beautiful photograph of the pencil/s featured in the anecdote on the right page. Each anecdote is approximately seven to fifteen lines in length and whilst this doesn’t seem anywhere near enough to convey much beyond make and model Caroline has done a wonderful of job telling the reader about each pencil and it left me feeling informed and wanting to know more. Finally, the book ends with several pages of very useful information including a 10H – 10B grading scale and an explanation of sizes.

As books go this is one of those books you can dip into and just pursue your pencil of choice or, like me, you can sit and read it from cover to cover; if you do decide to read the whole book it won’t take you very long but you will enjoy it.

So, is a book about pencils really worth your pennies?

Yes.

This is a well written and entertaining trip through the history of pencils; and if you are a stationery addict or know someone who is then this is the ideal gift.

Finally, when the world returns to normal and you find yourself in New York, take a trip to 15 Orchard St and visit CW Pencil Enterprise, in the meantime check out their website and enjoy the book.

Disclaimer: The book was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.