The Big Apple Pen Club (the "BAPC") was formed in 2011 by a group of fountain pen enthusiasts originally brought together through the Fountain Pen Network and grown further through personal connections within the fountain pen community.

The overall purpose of the BAPC is to allow fountain pen enthusiasts of all ages to share their interest in fountain pens, inks, papers and other accessories with like-minded enthusiasts, whether their level of interest is nibmeister, with a deep knowledge of pen repair and tuning, or newbie, with little familiarity with fountain pens simply looking to learn more about this healthy addiction. To this end, members are encouraged to bring an assortment of their pens to each meeting to give others the opportunity to take them for a test drive. This way, members will learn through intra-member interaction what their preferences are for building their collections, as in-store testing can be quite limited.

The BAPC is a regional club, meant to bring together fountain pen enthusiasts from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and others willing to join us in midtown Manhattan for our monthly meetings (which are held on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m.). Out-of-town guests are always welcome if their stay in the New York area coincides with any of our meetings.

The BAPC is an open club, such that there are no qualifications or age limits one need satisfy to attend our meetings. The club does not require members to pay dues, however donations will be requested on a purely voluntary basis from time to time to provide resources for specific club activities, such as maintaining our website, hosting out-of-town guest speakers and the like. Any such requests will be done on a confidential basis so no club member will be made to feel uncomfortable whether or not they participate in any fund-raising project.

Any BAPC member may make suggestions for meeting topics by emailing them to the club chairman. In doing so, it is recommended that one not recommend topics that could possibly exclude other club members from participating. For example German lever filler night would tend to be exclusive, whereas German pen night would appear to be fairly inclusive.

While our meeting host may be willing to provide free sodas, coffee and snacks, members should not assume that food will be available at club meetings. Accordingly, as our meetings run generally from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 or 10:00 p.m., members should make whatever food arrangements they require to sustain themselves through our meetings. No alcohol will be served at club meetings (formally anyway).

The BAPC will also hold special meetings where we will host well-known guest speakers in the fountain pen business community, including custom pen artists, vintage pen specialists and the like. We will provide notice of these special meetings to ensure every member has the opportunity to clear their calendars.