Page (898) Eberhard Faber

     The American representative of A. W. Faber, enjoys the distinction of having one of the best-known names in the educated world. It is rare in these days of progress and inventive ingenuity to find the product of a house established 130 years ago and still at the head of the market. Such is a fact, however, with the A. W. Faber celebrates lead pencils and other specialties.

     In 1761 Caspar Faber began the manufacture of “Faber’s Pencils” in the village of Stein, near Nurnberg, Germany. In 1784 Antony Faber, whose name the firm bears to this day, succeeded his father. In 1810 Antony was succeeded by his son John Lothar Faber. He enlisted with him the services of his two younger brothers. The youngest, Eberhard, moved to the United States, where the great increase of the business demanded more intimate connections. He established a branch-house at New York, where centered the immense trade of the United States, the Canadas, Central and South America and the West Indies. Similar reasons called for the establishment of an agency in Paris; which was followed by another in London, where was centered the trade of England, Australia, the East Indies and other  (899) British colonies; and one at Berlin, for German trade. The supplying of Italy, Russia and the rest of Europe and the East is carried on from the factory at Stein.

     The establishment at Stein, like those of Krupp and Pullman elsewhere, almost realizes the ideal Utopia. Comfortable houses are erected for the operatives, and a savings-bank, a library, a child’s nursery, and an open-air gymnasium have been established.  The Siberian Lead Mines, wholly under the control of A. W. Faber, are on the summit of Mount Batougal, about 270 miles west of Irkutsk, near the Chinese frontier. They yield vast quantities of the purest graphite in the world, large blocks being taken from them with unbroken surfaces, bright like polished steel, and weighing 80 pounds & more.

     Eberhard Faber in 1861 erected a lead pencil manufactory, the first in this country, in New York, at the foot of East 42d Street. This was burned out. In 1872 a much larger one was established at Greenpoint, Long Island, which besides lead pencils, produces the best-known penholders in the world, and other stationery novelties. Another factory at Newark turns out rubber bands made from the purest Para rubber, and an unsurpassed line of rubber erasers for artists, typewriters and schools. A saw-mill at Cedar Keys, Florida, turns out the cedar slabs for pencils and penholders.

     The original warerooms of the firm were at 133 William Street, where the United States business was carried on for 22 years.  In 1877, these proving too small, the offices were removed to 718-720 Broadway. In 1887 the block at 541-547 Pearl Street was built, which the firm now owns, and of which it occupies the first & second floors. The Chicago house is at 141-143 Wabash Avenue. It is estimated that 100,000 stores in the United States deal in Faber goods, which have not failed at a single leading Exposition to be awarded prizes.