図鑑 · The Atlas
City
Paris
France
The walk, in order
Le Marais
Stops 1–3Stop 1: L'Écritoire
A family papeterie since 1975 — coloured bottled inks, inkwells, dip nibs and multicoloured sealing wax, and it turns up vintage fountain pens the luxury boutiques do not touch.
Stop 2: Mélodies Graphiques
Open since 1986 and still the city's proper calligraphy counter — dip nibs, sealing wax and Florentine papers, with workshops run in the shop.
Stop 3: Calligrane
Around two hundred handmade papers from around the world and a paper-art gallery — the place to buy the sheet you actually want to write your letter on.
Opéra
Stop 4Stop 4: Le Palais du Stylo
Eighty years on the same block, and the back counter does the work most shops will not — nib adjustment, flow problems, engraving, and decades of parts.
Madeleine
Stop 5Stop 5: Plume & Bille
They claim the entire Namiki collection, the only shop in Europe to hold it — and they sit you at a desk to write with anything before you buy.
Champs-Élysées
Stop 6Stop 6: Point Plume
The full Japanese high end beside the Europeans — Namiki, Pilot, Sailor and Montegrappa — and the address Paris collectors name when asked where to handle a maki-e.
Hours drift — verify before visiting.