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Complete
with box and papers
Montegrappa:
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Special
edition in a limited series commemorating the New Library of Alexandria:
·
331 fountain pens in sterling silver
·
octagonal shape
·
small parts in blue resin
·
clip adorned with a sapphire of 0.16 carat set
in a handmade octagon
·
the logo of Bibliotheca Alexandrina is
engraved on the barrel
·
Unesco logo is engraved on the top of the cap
·
18-carat gold nib
·
ebonite feeder converter or cartridge filling
system·
Overview
of the pen
The
Montegrappa fountain pen in a limited edition to celebrate the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina
In 47
B.C., during the war of the Roman conquest of
Egypt
in which Caesar and Cleopatra on one side fought against the pharaoh Ptolemy
XIII on the other, the Library of Alexandria, the largest library in the
ancient world with over 700,000 volumes, was completely destroyed in an
enormous fire. This fire was probably started by the troops of the pharaoh,
who was himself a descendant of the same Ptolemaic dynasty that had founded
the library some 300 years earlier. In the conflagration, thousands of
poetic, scientific and historical works of the Greco-Roman world were
destroyed and no trace of them survives.
The
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the New Library of Alexandria, was inaugurated in a
solemn ceremony on
16 October 2002
. This new library is the result of a joint initiative by President Mubarak
of Egypt and Unesco, the cultural arm of the United Nations. It is an event
of major historical importance, which symbolically reconnects Western
civilization to its Greco-Roman roots and, at the same time, the Arab world
to the Hellenistic culture in the rediscovery of which Islam played a vital
part.
Close
up of the pen
Montegrappa,
the oldest Italian manufacturer of writing instruments, has had the great
honour of being entrusted by Unesco with the task of creating a
commemorative fountain pen in a limited edition of only 331 pieces, the
number recalling the year in which the ancient Library of Alexandria was
founded, 331 B.C.
Available
exclusively as a fountain pen, it is made of sterling silver with small
parts in blue resin. This valuable pen is octagonal in shape, and the barrel
and top of the cap are engraved with the symbols of the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina and Unesco respectively.
Barrel
The clip
is adorned with a sapphire of 0.16 carat. This precious stone and the
hand-made octagon in which it is set make each example of this Montegrappa
creation a unique piece, different from all others. The nib is naturally of
18-carat gold and the filling is by converter or cartridge.
Sapphire
on the clip 
18K
Solid Gold Nib The
pen is presented in an elegant box in the official colours of Unesco and it
is adorned with the logo of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, engraved on a
silver plaque. Each pen is accompanied by a vellum inscription recording the
concept that inspired the pen and recalling the various stages of this great
project, which was launched by Unesco in 1988. 
Filling
Mechanism
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