Caroline Weaver likes pencils so much she has a tattoo of a pencil on her arm. Weaver is the owner of the newly opened C. W. Pencil Enterprise, a preciously tiny retail store in Lower Manhattan.
From Molly Young's NY Times profile:
The store is organized with the space-saving rigor of a ship's cabin. Pencils are displayed upright in glass jars labeled with their origin: Japan, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Tennessee. Framed vintage advertisements on the wall depict the likes of Booth Tarkington shilling his favorite pencils. (Tarkington's advice to young writers: "Use pencils. Write on thick paper. Sharpen two or three dozen rather soft pencils before you work. Use pencils with erasers on them — and use the erasers!")
The store has an impressive inventory of dead stock (which you can order online). A 1950s era Blackwing 602 runs $60.
(Thanks, Sally!)
