WRITING IMPLEMENTS. — Various writing implements have been used over time to produce writing (v.), and these vary according to the material intended to receive the letters. Thus epigraphic writing is normally produced by a chisel; graffiti by a hard, usually makeshift pointed tool; mural writing by charcoal, a brush, or a stick dipped in color; and cursive writing on tablets and other writing surfaces by other characteristic tools.
The reed pen consisted of a cane shaft, sharpened at the tip and split by a slit. It appears to have originated in the East, but its use was widespread in the Greco-Roman world and continued until the early Middle Ages. Archaeological finds have revealed that the ancients also used metal pens, but shaped like the reed pen. The adoption of the quill pen (especially from geese), which offered the advantage of greater flexibility, is traced back to around the 1st century AD and lasted for a very long time. It was only supplanted after the introduction of the metal nib, attached to a wooden handle, manufactured in Birmingham in 1826 by the Englishman Perry.
The ink used in antiquity was made from soot or charcoal mixed with water and gum; metallic ingredients (iron sulfate) began to be used only later (there are many medieval recipes on this subject). Red ink was used exceptionally, but almost exclusively for titles and chapter initials; gold and silver on a purple background first appear in Byzantine codices, but from the 1st century onward they also appear in Latin texts; only in the later Middle Ages do blue and green inks occasionally appear for initials.
The scribe kept the writing materials in the so-called *theca libraria* or *calamarium* (from which our improper term "calamaio" derives), along with a knife (*scalprum*) for sharpening the reed, the inkwell (*atramentarium-scriptorium*), pumice for smoothing parchment, a sponge for possible erasures, and a stylus for dry ruling of the pages.