"Perry certainly never made a pen as they are now made, viz., the _slit cut _with press tools; all he made were _cracked_ slit. "I made steel barrel pens some time before I made 'slip' pens for Perry. "It is doubtful when metal pens were made. The first I know of were made by Mr. Harrison, for Dr. Priestley. Perry was certainly not the first maker of steel pens, but I have no doubt that he was the first steel _slip pen_ maker, and no doubt the first to use a _goose quill_ for a pen holder, hence the slip pen. "The first stick pen holders I made for Perry in 1832, and for Gillott in 1835, and sold sticks to Gillott in 1840--L.293 18s. 7d." Mason claimed to have made barrel pens for Perry, of London, in 1828, and "slip or nibbed" pens in 1829; but he does not appear to have made any claim to priority of invention over Mitchell and Gillott. Now, although Mitchell made no claim himself, on the death of Mr. Gillott the following letter appeared in the _Daily Post:_ "The remarks which have appeared in a local paper upon the death of Mr. J. Gillott, that the steel pen owes its existence to him, and that the adaptation of machinery to the manufacture of metallic pens was his invention, lead the public to wrong conclusions. It is due to the memory of my late father--John Mitchell--that I should state that he not only made steel pens, but used machinery in their production, for some time before Mr. Gillott commenced in that branch of business." --HENRY MITCHELL, January 12, 1872. In October, 1876, Mr. Henry Mitchell writes to _Aris's Gazette,_ and says: