Ubiquity Kills Off The Portables
Most portable desks gradually disappeared during the 19th century, as useful day-to-day writing tools. The introduction of mass literacy during that period, the invention of cheaper and more efficient writing implements, and the mass production of furniture made most portable desks redundant.
With the advent of clean writing surfaces in every home or place of business and of the small and clean pocket fountain pen and the pencil, a gentleman did not need to include a lap desk in his luggage. There was no need for a container for the quill, the blotter, and the sand tray or for the writing surface this container could offer. Ships eventually were constructed with built-in desks, making the portable desk obsolete in maritime environments.
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Famous quotes containing the word kills:
“There is no instant of time when one creature is not being devoured by another. Over all these numerous races of animals man is placed, and his destructive hand spares nothing that lives. He kills to obtain food and he kills to clothe himself; he kills to adorn himself; he kills in order to attack and he kills to defend himself; he kills to instruct himself and he kills to amuse himself; he kills to kill. Proud and terrible king, he wants everything and nothing resists him.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)