Dan Kemp shows off one of the two display cases he uses to hold some of his"several hundred" fountain pens and other items, such as old ink bottles, associated with them.

In a world of whiz-bang , speed-of-light "real time" communication via such tools as cell-phones , e-mail and text messaging, few people communicate or work with the truly written word - e-mail and text messaging don't count.

Soon-to-retire Supreme Court Justice David Souter and still-teaching SDSU Professor Daniel Kemp do communicate with the written word - really: They use fountain pens.

Souter reportedly uses a 40- to 50-year-old black Esterbrook - aka "Estie ," a sort of "blue collar" pen with a steel nib - in writing his legal opinions. Kemp owns a few Esterbrooks; but in his collection of fountain pens, he has several other brands to choose from.

Asked about how many pens he has in his collection , Kemp replied modestly, "I don't know. I've got several hundred, for sure." His oldest pen dates back to the turn of the 20th century; most of his pens date from the 1930s and 1940s; most of them work.

For his daily use, he carries a 1948 Parker 51 model, at one time a highly sought-after writing instrument. "I use it whenever possible. You can't really do duplicate copies with it," Kemp said. Laughing a bit, he added, "So I carry a ballpoint with me, too."

Kemp, 67, has been in Brookings 33 years. He teaches the Honors Calculus Sequence and some upper-level classes in the SDSU Mathematics and Statistics Department. About 30 years ago, a graduating student whom he served as an advisor gave him a fountain pen as a gift. He was hooked.

The time was right for a collector . He found a lot of pens at flea markets and yard sales. And when E-bay was young, fountain pens could still be found for reasonable prices. He has more Sheaffer's pens than any other brand. Showing off two Sheaffer's look-alikes , Kemp explains that one dates back to the 1940s, the other to about 1986. The latter imitativemodel was "a pen to commemorate a pen."

Kemp remembers that in the 1950s his father had a desk set that had a fountain pen. And like other students growing up in the 1950s, Kemp learned cursive writing via the Palmer Penmanship method, using steel-nibbed dip pens that wrote with a sometimes unsmooth feel and a scratchy sound. Those primitive tools were a far cry from the fountain pens Kemp admires and collects: Many of the pens in his collection have 14- or 18-karat gold nibs that with buttery smoothness lay down a vivid inkline . 'Likes fooling around with things'

Asked why he collects fountain pens (and much of the paraphernalia that goes with them), Kemp explained, "I just like fooling around with things; and a pen is something you have to fool around with.

"You've got to fill it with ink; you've got to clean up after it; you've got to clean it every so often. But I like being in charge of it. It works because I'm helping it. I'm taking care of it."

Finally, he added, "I like the fact that they're 40, 50, 60 years old and they still work."

He has now and then acquired pens that did not work. He can repair some of the newer ones when he can get the parts; the older ones that are inoperable he sends off to people who can repair them.

When he first started collecting pens, the Sheaffer company would repair its pens when they weren't working properly. No more.

Kemp said, "One time I sent off a desk pen to Sheaffer that didn't work. They wrote back and said, 'We're no longer repairing pens; please accept this new pen with our apologies.' They sent the old one back, too."

The new pen is on his desk at SDSU; it's filled with red ink, and he uses it to grade tests. Kemp likes a fountain pen with a fine point, because it allows him to write mathematical symbols with precision. He uses black or blue ink for general writing and correspondence. And a fountain pen can be used for a bit of fun with his young students .

Kemp explained, laughing as he continued, "Most of them don't (know what a fountain pen is). Sometimes they'll ask me if I have a pen to write something down. If I'm feeling mischievous , I'll pull out a fountain pen, and they don't know what to do with it." Places for all those pens

For a collector with as many pens as Kemp, storing and displaying them can be a challenge. Kemp has two good-sized old display cases that work well for keeping them neatly arranged and easy to remove and show off.

The cases are made of wood and glass-fronted ; they were used by those in the business of selling pens to display their wares. And both have ties to South Dakota.

Kemp found one right here in Brookings. He found the other one on E-bay . It was located in Rapid City and had to be packed very carefully and shipped to Brookings.

In addition to having room to store many of Kemp's pens, both have places for storing and showing off such old collectables as ink wells and bottles. Neat stuff all and tied to the fooling around that goes with fountain pens. Editor's note: John Kubal is a fountain pen aficianado , but not a real collector. He does use a fountain pen for personal correspondence. In his sparse assortment of mostly modestly-priced fountain pens are a prized Parker 51 and a super-large Montblanc that he bought in Singapore about 1972. He may be reached at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.