Respecting, the former of these, in _Wrightson's Birmingham Directory, 1823, the following advertisement appears: "John Edwards, manufacturer of improved gold, silver, and _elastic sleel pens,_ mounted in all kinds of cases, and desk handles, No. 40 Hill Street. N.B.--The pens are warranted to write exceedingly fine and free." This advertisement contained engravings of a barrel and "nibbed" or "slip" pen. J. Sargent, writing from Tettenhall, June 28, 1869, says: "A journeyman blacksmith, named Fellows, of Sedgley, was the first originator of steel pens. I resided at Sedgley in 1822, when Sheldon, Fellows's apprentice, made some of these pens. He made two for me. I wrote very well with them. Sheldon himself told me that Mr. Gillott commenced making the pen from seeing some of his (Sheldon's) make." Some one writing under the _nom de plume_ of "Un Qui Sait," says: "I distinctly recollect, about the year 1806, being at Fellows's home in Sedgley, and there seeing Thomas Sheldon, his apprentice, making steel pens. He knew of an entry in his books of pens bought from Fellows in 1807. He paid Sheldon L.100 in 1822. He believed Fellows made pens in 1793. Beilby and Knott (Birmingham stationers) sold these pens in considerable quantities from 1818 to 1828. Sheldon continued the trade until it was destroyed through inability to compete with the machine-made pens of Mitchell and Gillott." Another writer, "T. S.," says: "In 1815, an uncle of mine used to purchase these pens from Sheldon, of Sedgley. The price was eighteen shillings per dozen, ten per cent. for cash. They were barrel shape. B. Smith and Co. had in their pattern book of engravings of steel toys a drawing of one of these pens, which were sold at thirty shillings per dozen; also one in a bone handle, the top of which screwed off, for carrying in the pocket, at thirty-six shillings per dozen." Another correspondent, writing on July 24, 1869, mentions (on authority of the late Mr. Alderman Yates) that an old man named Spittle made steel pens before any of the present makers. In note 319 this man Spittle is mentioned by another writer, who says: "A man named Spittle, one of the earliest makers of steel pens, lived in Chequers' Walk, Bath Row, Birmingham. He made steel pens for sale, and charged one shilling each for them. They were made with a tube to fit on a quill. I bought one from him forty-five years ago (1824)." "E.W.," writing in 1869, says: "In 1821 there was a B. Smith, steel toy maker, St. Paul's [Mary's] Square, Birmingham. He had a book of engravings of steel toys, among which were steel pens, made to screw on and off. This pattern book might have been one hundred years old. I sold his pens in 1823." The Editor of "Notes and Queries" says "Smith's pattern book was probably fifty years old," and further remarks that steel pens must have been a regular article of manufacture before they appeared in a steel toy maker's pattern book.