PENS:
The beauty, neatness, and perfect uniformity of the handwriting in old Irish MSS. have led some antiquarians to express an opinion that the scribes used metal pens; but such an opinion is quite untenable. Keller has shown that the pens were made from the quills of geese, swans, crows, and other birds.[288] This is also the opinion of Miss Stokes.[289] One of the pictures in the Book of Kells confirms this view. This is a picture representing St. John the Evangelist engaged in writing the Gospel. He holds a pen in his hand the feather of which can be clearly detected.[290] The inkstand is also represented by a slender conical cup fastened to the corner of the chair on which he is sitting or upon a stick stuck in the ground.
The old scribes sometimes wrote with the book resting upon the knees using a flat board for support. But when writing became more elaborate and ornamental a desk was used and, if necessary, a maulstick to support the wrist.[291]