Jim Marshall

After 30 years working mainly overseas in Technical roles for the multinational giant Unilever, Jim Marshall established a reputation in the early 1990s for repairing and restoring old writing equipment and dealing in such items in the USA and the UK. With his wife jane they established Marestin Ltd in 1992 which became The Pen & Pencil Gallery in Cumbria in 1995. Their focus was pens, pencils, quill knives and inkwells which encompassed key US trade shows, NEC Antiques shows and UK special events. Jim was already writing articles for collector magazines but his first book in 1997 was at the request of Mitchell Beazley -the Millers guide to writing equipment. He wrote articles for Pen World, Stylus, The Antique Collector and Antique Collecting and in 2002 established a small publishing business to help collectors. The main thrust was The Pen & Pencil Monograph Series which has now 9 issues in the series. He also has published other books for budding authors. His main interest is old writing equipment and the encouragement of younger collectors. He currently lives in Cumbria with his wife Jane and is spoiled by the frequent visits of his four daughters and grandchildren.