Small beginnings in 1822, followed by dramatic action by entrepreneurs and workers, saw the rapid expansion of the Birmingham steel pen trade to world centre status. The ingenuity and skill of the Birmingham workers, men, women and children, helped retain domination of the world market for over a hundred years. Manufacture of the small disposable pen-nib contributed much to increased literacy and democracy through its large scale factory production and low price availability. This graphic account traces an intriguing and dramatic reduction of the trade, accelerated by the invention of the biro in 1938.