Compact Pens

Compact pens and pencils are a useful category of writing instruments. Often also called 'pocket pens', these are the handy little pens that can slip away neatly in your pockets, so they're always there when you need them. We have pens that are extra-short or extra-slim or both. Some of our compact pens are telescopic or expanding so that a compact carrying size becomes full-sized in your hand.

These are pens that are at home in pockets, purses, handbags, travel gear, journals and on keyrings. There's a huge variety, offering all prices and styles from simple functional pens to luxury gifts. There are compact ballpoint pens; compact rollerball pens; compact pencils and even compact pocket fountain pens.

The classic pens in this field are the Caran d'Ache 849 OHTO Tasche, Kaweco Sport and Kaweco Liliput - all well-made compact pens that will give years of service.

A lot of compact pens use standard D1 'multipen' refills, which can be quite an advantage, as they give you lots of choices.

Although there are some compact fountain pens, markers, pencils and rollerballs, the majority of pocket-friendly pens are ballpoints. A compact pen will usually be with you all the time, but may not be your first choice if you're going to do a lot of writing. Ballpoints tend to suit these situations rather well. They have a long shelf life, and even small refills have a fairly good writing length; they'll write on almost any paper, including birthday cards and other 'odd' types of paper, and there's a very limited chance of them leaking. They're usually safe to use in an aeroplane too.