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Stephens
Henry “Inky” Stephens bought Avenue House in Finchley, London in 1874 and altered and extended the house adding the attractive stable block, the drawing room, and a laboratory where he carried out his experiments with writing fluids.
The growth and successes of his famous firm, Stephens, are indicated in an advertisement of 1875:
“Chemist, inventor and manufacturer of the writing fluids, quill merchant, manufacturer of copying inks and every description of writing ink, of fountain inkstands, gum mucilage, sealing wax and of the stains for dyeing wood in imitation of oak, mahogany, walnut, satin-wood, etc. – Two medals (highest award) at Vienna 1873, and the highest awards at Paris 1867, Havre 1868, Amsterdam 1869 and Lyons 1872 for writing and copying inks.”
His accomplished father, Dr. Henry Stephens, earlier in 1832 had invented the famous “Blue-Black Writing Fluid” that laid the basis for the firm’s success and the considerable family fortune. Dissatisfied with the sticky, badly-keeping inks of the day, Dr. Stephens began to experiment with new formulae and eventually to manufacture ink in the basement of his house. The permanence of his ink was exemplified by the writing on the documents recovered from the SS. Egypt after lying at the bottom of the sea for eight years. The writing is reported to have been “almost as good as new”.
A cartoon in “Moonshine” in 1887, whilst the young “Inky” Stephens was standing for election, showed a dancing bottle of “Stephens’ True Blue Ink” with the caption “Stephens, the indelible candidate”.
Today, Stephens has developed further, and now includes great specialist arts and crafts products such as: