School Desks & Pens Early school desks not only had an elongated recess at the back for pens and pencils but also an ink well for use with the old 'nib' pens. The desk lids lifted up to allow books and such to be stored out of the way while working. View inside a Kaikorai School classroom At the right we see two examples of 'nib' pens, one quite plain and one a little on the fancy side. A selection of nibs are also shown which would be appropriate for this sort of pen. Fountain pens, bottom right, were to become more readily available later and gradually took over as a standard pen. Evolution being what it is, the fountain pen is now basically overtaken by the common ball-point pen varieties.

A really early writing device The Slate - a personal blackboard. These devices did not appreciate being dropped. They were written on by using a slim 'slate pencil' which would have been about 3/16th of an inch in thickness (about 4mm). Length just over 4 inches (105mm) as pictured below from photograph I took of one such pencil, borrowed from a friend of my sister. When used to write on the 'slate' they would produce white lines similar to chalk. I don't recall using one at school, but do remember playing with one at home, no doubt some time after slates were withdrawn from general school use. You can find out more about slates at http://www.cedu.niu.edu/blackwell/artifacts.html

A typical school slate Approximate size 8 inches x 11 inches or 205mm x 280mm.