J Herbin Pens and Inks

One of the iconic ink colors, PdL is a muted dark purple that is very easy on the eyes and such a rich yet subdued color that it can fit into nearly any writing setting you can imagine. Not too lubricated, not too dry, and thus a rather well-behaved ink across nibs and types of paper you can use with it. This is NOT the ink for someone looking for shade and sheen. This is a WRITING ink, and it shows.

I wouldn't use it for super-formal writing, but everything else? It will definitely work. It's especially ideal for prolonged writing tasks, because it won't tire your eyes while writing with it--and it won't tire out the eyes of anyone reading what you've written, either. You can read pages and pages of anything written in PdL and not feel a twinge of eye strain. It's also a surprisingly versatile ink for drawing and art washes, too, and it can surprise with the complexities of color that can come out from adding a little (or a lot) of water.

I bought the cartridges because I wanted to try it, but didn't have any spare converters at the time. As soon as I put it in the pen i could use it in, I fell in love with it. Now I'll get the 100 ml bottle of it, because I love it that much. This is one of those inks that doesn't sit unused in your collection, but is constantly in one pen or another. That is the sign of a great ink.

This is a beautiful ink by J. Herbin and my 'go to' for use in my Waterman Amber Carene with Stub nib, creating lovely style and colour. The 100ml bottle enables me to refill my more aesthetically pleasing but smaller glass bottle for pride of place on my desk at an economical price.

Great glass pen! I use it to test inks and being a FP newbie, it helped a lot to get a grasp on ink. It is a bit thin to hold, and I always get ink on the "ball" part since I use it to dip straight into the sample vials. Might be best to pour into a wider dish/tin to get the ink if you rather not get ink all over your fingers.

I only have one bottle of the 1670 ink (Emerald of Chivor), but I love it so much. It is such a pretty ink. It's a bit of a hassle trying to keep the shimmer mixed in, but it is totally worth the time. It's beautiful.

I don’t know why people make such a big deal about the color variation on the boxes. I’ve been using this ink in cartridges for years. I’ve never been disappointed. The company has only been in business since 1670. It survived a revolution and two world wars. To my mind, they know what they’re doing.

Very handy, I never know when I may need a blotter.

If you've ever written with a no-name glass pen, you might have been unimpressed. Once you write with a Herbin glass pen, you'll throw all those in the bin, because the difference in quality is astounding. I wish I could say more, except that I stupidly dropped mine tip-down after a few days and shattered it. It's quality, yes, but it is still glass!

This pen is fabulous. I have many fountain pens in my collection but I find writing with a dip pen to be the most satisfying writing experience. This probably stems from my background in Medieval calligraphy. A beautiful pen that performs very well. I would say it conforms to a medium-broad nib fountain pen. A wonderful writing experience.

Such a beautiful minty color! If you have a Leuchtturm in the "emerald" color it is a bit like that. To me it is turquoise and minty. It is well saturated and I have found that it flows very nicely for long writing and note taking. It is not a super wet ink which I prefer for long sessions (it smudges less).

I am so happy I finally bought a dip pen. It makes trying a million ink samples super fast and clean. Or if you want to simply use an ink for a little bit and not have to clean a pen, its great for writing a page or two. Also the pictures don't do this glass pen justice, it's beautiful.

i love the little bottles of ink. This is a great way to have many colors.

Like the name implies, this dip pen is "smooth". Holds a lot of ink too. Very happy with my purchase.

I like the J Herbin inks, and I like this smaller bottle for trying out new colors. It's much larger than a sample but still small, a very cute glass bottle. I ordered Violette Pense and it's a pretty purple and flows well.

Simply stunning deep purple hue with moderate shading and gorgeous silvery shimmer.

If you love J. Herbin's inks, these 100ml bottles are an amazing value! My only qualm with them is that the bottle they come in is plastic. I resolved this issue by transferring the contents to very thoroughly cleaned empty glass ink bottles. Although if you go through ink quickly, the plastic ink bottle won't be an issue. Basically you're buying a bulk amount of the ink, so the container is secondary, and a number of on-line vendors sell empty ink bottles. It's very unfortunate that J. Herbin discontinued the large size. I wish they were still freely available and also were offered in more colors from J. Herbin's range.

Love this pen....beautiful...not practical...but that’s part of the beauty??

I don't know if it matters to anyone else, but I love the little tin containers these cartridges come in. I'm not sure if the price was any better or worse than anyone else. I don't care. The ink is great and anything that doesn't come sealed in plastic like a space age mummy has my vote.

I knew exactly what I wanted as I'd used a similar sized bottle of the same ink before... it was as advertised and very prompt delivery... might be the best price in the country

I bought Bouton D'Or (Gold Button, in French) to serve as a highlighter ink, and it works fine for that use. It is such a happy color!

I'm not sure I would write a long letter with the stuff, as it's very light, though.

All of J. Herbin's inks are well behaved and a good value.

Beautiful ink. Great service!

When I knew NOTHING about fountain pens or inks, I found my first bottle of J. Herbin ink in a stationery store and bought it because I liked the purple color. It was a great accidental discovery. Long story short--I needed a new bottle so this time around I bought Encre Violette Pensee with full knowledge of its quality.

Good product to keep on hand for when needed.

Very well made and enjoyable to use. Looks good on the desk

The J. Herbin 1670 inks are a real treat. I have only used Emerald of Chivor and Stormy Grey, and both are stunning in their own ways, but EoC takes the cake. When writing with EoC, it is quite clear why it is so popular. It is a beautiful teal with an incredible red sheen and gold sparkles to boot. I would recommend any of these inks for something special to your collection. It also helps that they are beautifully bottled.

This my first bottle of J. Herbin. Really lovely colour of Bleu Pervenche. Good dark colour of turquoise and a nice change. Appears to be very good quality and flows really well. Nibs and paper make a difference but I try and use good fountain pen paper and medium nips of steel mostly in mid range priced pens.