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Some time before 1565, an enormous deposit of graphite was discovered in the hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale parish, Cumbria, England. The locals found that it was very useful for marking sheep. This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure and solid, and it could easily be cut into sticks.

Because graphite is soft, it requires some form of case. Graphite sticks were at first wrapped in string or in sheepskin for stability. The news of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and wide, attracting the attention of artists all over the known world.

The word pencil comes from the Latin word pencillus which means "little tail".

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15y ago

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