HomeCollections
Collection
Unusual Gifts for Writers
Writers are difficult because the obvious gift is a notebook, and they already have a preference. What tends to land is a tool with a specific history, or a book that does not behave like the books on the nightstand.
The brass Space Pen writes upside down because it was built to. The Hoverpen hangs at 23.5 degrees and still has a refill. S. arrives stuffed with letters. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows names feelings that did not have names. None of these is a blank journal.
Why these
- Two of the pens were engineered rather than decorated.
- The books are for people who already own novels and would rather be surprised by the form.
- A kaleidoscope kit belongs here because writers collect ways of looking.
Amazon links are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Everything else opens the shop that sells it.
Surprisingly useful · No. 09
Fisher Space Pen
A pressurized brass bullet pen that writes upside down, in the cold, and in the conditions it was actually built for.
Oddity 
Gift for: writers, engineers, travelers
Never search for · No. 16
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
John Koenig's dictionary of invented words for emotions the old words do not quite cover.
Oddity
Gift for: writers, readers, partners
Never search for · No. 18
A Field Guide to Getting Lost
Rebecca Solnit's essays on wandering, blue distance, and the uses of not knowing where you are.
Oddity
Gift for: writers, readers, travelers
Never search for · No. 17
Invisible Cities
Calvino's slim novel of impossible cities, described by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan, a few pages at a time.
Oddity
Gift for: writers, readers, designers
Has everything · No. 05
S. (Ship of Theseus)
A novel printed as a library book, stuffed with margin notes, letters, and loose inserts you have to keep in order.
Oddity
Gift for: readers, writers, partners
Under $25 · No. 12
Nature Kaleidoscope Kit
A kit for building a kaleidoscope, then filling the end with dried flowers, stones, and whatever small thing you add later.
Oddity
Gift for: makers, designers, fidgeters
From the future · No. 13
Hoverpen
A pen that hangs at 23.5 degrees on a magnetic stand, the same tilt as the Earth's axis, and still writes.
Oddity
Gift for: designers, desk dwellers, partners
Never search for · No. 21
Codex Seraphinianus
Luigi Serafini's encyclopedia of an invented world, written in a script nobody can read, with diagrams of creatures that do not exist.
Oddity
Gift for: designers, writers, readers
Has everything · No. 22
Building Stories
Chris Ware's graphic novel as a box of fourteen separate pieces: books, pamphlets, a newspaper, a board, and scraps you can lose in a real apartment.
Oddity
Gift for: readers, writers, designers