FPOTW. Pretty much every pen collector past the “newbie” stage recognizes that five-letter abbreviation as a shorthand way of identifying Andreas Lambrou’s compendious Fountain Pens of the World. First published in 1995, this 448-page coffee-table-size tome is recognized as one of the indispensable books that form the foundation of any serious collector’s library. Since it first appeared, FPOTW has become the reference to which more collectors turn for definitive information on fountain pens (produced up to the year of the book’s introduction) than any other book.

But why, if the book has been around for a decade, am I writing about it now? Simple. It’s back. With warehouse stocks dwindling or sold out, FPOTW was becoming harder to get. Or else ridiculously expensive — I’ve seen copies priced as high as $450.00 from specialty book dealers! Mr. Lambrou, acknowledging the ubiquity of references to his book and the continuing demand for it, has had it reprinted in a new edition that is worth purchasing even if you already have a copy of an older version.

Now that’s a pretty strong statement. Here I’m telling you that it’s worth shelling out for a book with a street price in the $150.00 range, a book that you’ve already got. To justify this kind of expenditure, especially given that not a word has been added or changed, there had better be something good about this edition that isn’t intuitively obvious. There is. Printed from new plates, on a smooth eggshell-finished paper of higher quality than in earlier editions, this new volume offers superb clarity of both print and photos. Text is easier on the eyes, and the beautiful finish on the paper allows for a tremendous improvement in color accuracy, brilliance, and depth: you can actually see the difference between the two shades of burgundy Sheaffer used for the Snorkel (1952-1956 and 1956-1959). What? You didn’t know about the two shades of burgundy? Now you do, and now you can see them without having to track down the pens. And that, in a nutshell, is why the new 2005 edition of FPOTW is worth having.

If you’ve never seen FPOTW, all you need to know is that it is filled with text and hundreds of photos, describing and illustrating thousands of pens — sometimes with only minute differences between them, to help you gain a better understanding of what you are looking at when you are buying pens or after you’ve brought your new purchases home. There is also a treasure-trove of information about the histories of dozens of pen companies; understanding companies’ history can often be key to understanding their pens. The book is exhaustively indexed — a major plus. And it makes no attempt to waste space on assigning prices or values to the pens it displays — another plus, given that such values are out of date before even a brand-new book hits the shelves.

I’ve had a copy of FPOTW for years, and I refer to it so frequently that there’s no way I can count how many times I’ve had it off the shelf. I am now the owner of two copies. I’m waiting for the right novice collector to come along; then I’ll make a gift of my old copy. The new copy? Sorry, Charlie, I’m keeping it!