Liking Jane: More About De Atramentis Jane Austen

That is De Atramentis Jane Austen next to some other green inks that I have that are similar.

Of these, my favorites, far and away, are J. Herbin Vert Empire and Diamine Green/Black. So here is Jane Austen ink compared to just those two.

I find Jane Austen middle-of-the-road in this company. Diamine Green/Black is darker, and very useful as an everyday ink. Vert Empire is more unusual, and just a lovely, soft color.

Of the inks arrayed above, Jane Austen is closest to Diamine Umber. I mean, very close.

Diamine Umber is an ink I have a sample of, but have never tried. I’ve never fancied it. I will note that De Atramentis Jane Austen appears to be a dry-writing ink, and Diamine Umber might be different, and thus useful for different pens. But I’d always pick “Jane Austen” over “Umber.”

Finally, here is a comparison of the Jane Austen ink with two green inks that aren’t at all similar to Jane Austen ink, KWZ Foggy Green and KWZ Iron Gall Green Gold.

This comparison rings the same bell for me. De Atramentis Jane Austen is a very nice cool gray-green ink. But I just find the two KWZ inks more interesting.

So I’m left with liking De Atramentis Jane Austen mostly because it’s named for one of my favorite authors. If it weren’t, I would be set with only Diamine Green/Black and J. Herbin Vert Empire for this type of green ink. Well, almost — I’d also add Montblanc Jonathan Swift.

But I’ve seen worse reasons to try or buy an ink.

One interesting thing about Jane Austen is that she actually lived in an era of great turmoil, but her work focuses on a small sliver of quiet, normal life. She’s criticized for that in some quarters, and minimized or overlooked in others.

But I have to think that normal life is also a constant, hand in hand with the larger tragedies and events on the news. We all have a normal life. And normal life isn’t free of interest or conflict, either. People have family problems, or money problems. People have issues with friends. People fall in love, sometimes foolishly, sometimes painfully and sometimes perfectly.

The normal world of Jane Austen is a relief, because it brings us something that we can identify with and can laugh at. And because in the end what happens is always what should.

The world of Jane Austen is a relief, because it’s morally satisfying that the right people end up with each other. And also because it’s deeply funny that the insensitive or dumb characters usually don’t have the faintest idea how that happened.

Reading Austen is a relief, because no matter how we are moved to shake our heads at a difficult, foolish mother, and to sympathize with her under-appreciated daughters, it’s still true that these aren’t the biggest problems in the world. And all’s well that ends well.