We have heard this statement of Henry Mitchell confirmed by a man who worked for Mitchell, as a boy, and who remembered pens being made for Sheldon by Mitchell. It is probable at this early period the pens were made for a few dealers, and the general public was unacquainted with the names of the manufacturers. This circumstance has no doubt contributed to involve in obscurity the early operations of Mitchell and Gillott. In a notice in _Lardner's Cyclopoedia_ (written by Mr. John Holland, of Sheffield), published in 1833, the names of three penmakers only are given--Perry, Heeley, and Skinner. From this it might be supposed that there were no other penmakers at this date; but Gillott had taken out a patent in 1831, and the names of both Mitchell and Gillott appeared as penmakers in _Wrightson's Birmingham Directory_ for 1830. It cannot be supposed that Mr. Holland wilfully omitted to mention the names of Mitchell and Gillott, for this writer was an impartial and painstaking collector of facts, but it is probable the notice was written some time before it was published; and, like many little masters, Mitchell and Gillot were only known as penmakers to the wholesale dealers in Birmingham, upon whom they depended for orders, consequently Mr. Holland would be ignorant of their existence. In speaking of the demand for steel pens, the writer in Lardner's says: "The rage originated chiefly, if not altogether, in the successful speculations of Mr. James Perry, of London, whose pens, however short their merits may fall of the praise of the inventor, are certainly superior to most others composed of a like material. Perry began to make steel pens, in Manchester, in 1819, and in London in 1824." The press and tools with which these pens were made are still in the possession of Perry and Co., at their warehouse in the Holburn Viaduct. This fact tends to confirm the statement that Mr. James Perry was one of the earliest experimenters in the manufacture of the article. Levesley says he bought one of Perry's pens, which he saw in a shop window in Sheffield, in 1825, and he took it to his workshop and improved upon it. This is somewhat similar to the account given by Mason of his first experiment in pen making. Mason saw a pen of Perry's in the window of a bookseller named Peart, in Bull Street, Birmingham, in 1828, which he purchased and took home. Finding he could produce a better article, which could be sold at a cheaper rate, he made some and sent them to Mr. James Perry, in, London, and that gentleman shortly after waited upon Josiah Mason, at his place of business in Lancaster Street, and the interview resulted in Mason beginning to make pens for Perry. It will be remembered that the writer in the _Sheffield Daily Telegraph_ stated that the earliest experimenter in form and material was Perry.