Heintze & Blanckertz was the first German manufacturer of dip pens

Dip pen

A dip pen or nib pen usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted on a handle or holder, often made of wood. Other materials can be used for the holder, including bone, metal and plastic, while some pens are made entirely of glass...

. It was founded in 1842 in Oranienburg

Oranienburg

Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...

 near Berlin. Today the company is located in Wehrheim

Wehrheim

Wehrheim is a municipality in Hesse, Germany some 30 km north of Frankfurt am Main.The town Wehrheim carries the nickname "Apfeldorf Wehrheim" .- Location :...

 near Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

.

History

"Heintze & Blanckertz - erste deutsche Schreibfederfabrik" was founded in 1842. Dip pens were important as the only other writing tool was the quill

Quill

A quill pen is a writing implement made from a flight feather of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, metal-nibbed pens, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen...

. The company sold their products through own offices in Berlin, Leipzig and Frankfurt. Since the 1920s the company cooperated with famous graphic designers like Rudolf Koch

Rudolf Koch

thumb|250px|[[Fraktur]] fonts by Rudolf KochRudolf Koch was a leading German calligrapher, typographic artist and teacher, born in Nuremberg. He was primarily a calligrapher with the Gebr. Klingspor foundry. He created several typefaces, in both fraktur and roman styles...

, Paul Renner

Paul Renner

Paul Renner was a typeface designer, most notably of Futura. He was born in Wernigerode, Germany and died in Hödingen....

 and Edward Johnston

Edward Johnston

Edward Johnston, CBE was a British-Uruguayan craftsman who is regarded, with Rudolf Koch, as the a father of modern calligraphy, in the form of the broad edged pen as a writing tool, a particular form of calligraphy....

 and expanded on the arts and crafts sector.

In 1926 Heintze & Blanckertz started to publish the design magazine Die zeitgemäße Schrift and three years later the Rudolf Blanckertz Schriftmuseum (museum of writing) was opened in Berlin. In World War II the factory in Oranienburg was bombed out and the remaining machines were confiscated by the Red Army.

The factory was re-opened in West Berlin

West Berlin

West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...

 and moved later to Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, but the ballpen limited the use of dip pens, so the company's activities are today more on the arts and crafts sector. It also produces materials for artists and craftpeople.

The graphic collection of Rudolf Blanckertz is now part of the permanent exhibition of the Gutenberg Museum

Gutenberg Museum

The Gutenberg Museum is one of the oldest museums of printing in the world, located opposite the cathedral in the old part of Mainz, Germany. It is named after Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of printing from moveable metal type...

 in Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

.