REV. MARCUS DRAKE & MAX COURAGEOUS
The character and comic were inspired by a real vicar named John Harston Marcus Morris. He edited a church publication called The Anvil, which boasted C.S. Lewis as a contributor (hence the natural connection for Rev. Drake to know Jack). Morris also created the British comic Eagle, whose main character was Dan Dare. Rev. Morris intended for the comic to promote moral virtues.

TEA RATIONING
British people tend to drink a lot of tea. So much so that during World War II, they had to start rationing it to stretch supplies. The rationing stayed in place clear until the fall of 1952, just prior to the train wreck at Harrow & Wealdstone.

HARROW & WEALDSTONE TRANE CRASH
The largest non-military train crash in British history, which took place on October 8, 1952. The cause is still officially unknown.

NURSE ABBIE
Based on Lt. Abbie Sweetwine. She was a ground- breaking African-American nurse who was on the scene of the train wreck and nicknamed “The Angel of Platform Six.” Her innovative system of triage set a new course for British medical practice. She really did use her own lipstick to mark patients because she had nothing else to write with at the time.

JACK
C.S. Lewis went by the nickname of Jack among his friends. Specific lines of Jack (such as “Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time”) that are found in The Ink of Elspet are taken from his works or quotes attributed to him.

RONALD
J.R.R. Tolkien went by Ronald. A line of Elvish he speaks to Bea comes straight out of Lord of the Rings.

DOT
Dorothy Sayers was an “unofficial” Inkling who was friends with Lewis and Tolkien. Her father was a vicar in Oxford. She did write the book Marcus had on his desk, Understanding the Universe.

EAGLE AND CHILD
The real pub in Oxford where the Inklings met. It does in fact have a Rabbit Room (although you don’t have to open any door to get into it). It closed in 2020, but let’s hope that isn’t the final chapter.

RADCLIFFE CAMERA
The Camera is a library building on the campus of Oxford University that was built back in the 1700s. Any evidence of a link to an underground pinch has long been patched over.

HADRIAN’S WALL
A major historical feature of Northern England.  Hadrian’s Well has yet to be discovered…

ELSPET
Elspet McPherson (or MacPherson, depending on your source) was a real woman in Aberdeen who did in fact marry a man named Isaac Forsyth. They had a son named Peter who grew up to be a famous preacher. They also took in college students as boarders, one of whom was George MacDonald.

EADFRITH
A monk credited with creating the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illuminated manuscript from around 700 A.D.  They are considered to be one of the finest examples of that particular style of art. Lindisfarne is an island off the coast of Newcastle, so it ties in nicely to the location.  The song Trey recalls in The Ink of Elspet is intended to not only give a nod to Eadfrith, but also to the work of Inklings that often included songs written by characters in their writings.

CABER TOSS
The Highland Games really do feature people throwing enormous logs great distances. To date, Angus McLarch still holds the record for sending one clear into the stratosphere, with passengers on it no less.

POUNCE
Ink didn’t used to be as quick to dry as it is today. So, in centuries past, writers would keep a little pot of a drying agent called pounce that they would sprinkle on a page after it was written to prevent smearing.

GRIP
The Commander’s pet crow (or captive rather) is named after Charles Dickens’ bird. Word has it that bird was very smart. Supposedly, it was impressive enough to have inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write The Raven. There was also a crow at the Tower of London who was named Grip and there’s a pretty good story about how he survived the bombing of the Tower during World War II. So, you can take your pick as to which one is more inspirational. Either way, it is good that he is no longer in the clutches of the blotters.

BLIND NUN
A very veiled nod to St. Triduana, a Scottish saint who was blinded, but who was believed to have the miraculous ability to give sight to others.

BISHOP IN THE BLOTTER BACK STORY
Sparked by the story of St. Romanus of France. Legend has it he battled a Goji dragon, whose head became the first gargoyle. You can still see that gargoyle on the Rouen cathedral.

KELPIE
A tribute to the shape-shifting water spirit of the same name in Scottish mythology, which typically appears as a horse.

ABERDEEN WINTER GARDENS
A real park with exotic plants in greenhouses, established back in the late 1800s.

MA CAMERON’S
The oldest pub in Aberdeen. I’m not sure if sticky toffee pudding is still on the menu.

MEDIEVAL PRISON TURNED MUSEUM
There is a real one of these in Scotland, but it’s a toll house in Edinburgh, not Aberdeen.

OTHER AUTHORS/ARTISTS/LITERARY REFERENCES

J.M. Barrie
Barrie wrote Peter & Wendy of Peter Pan fame. If in fact he originally did have Ermengarde somewhere in an early draft, he did a good job of erasing her because he left no trace.

Johnny Gruelle
Gruelle is the author of The Magical Land of Noom. He did jump straight to ink when he drew (rather than starting his sketches with pencil).

A.A. Milne
The beloved author of Winnie the Pooh

Herman Melville
More of an author for grown-ups, he wrote the famous story of Moby Dick

Lewis Carroll
Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland and in real life was friends with George MacDonald.

George MacDonald
This Victorian writer wrote books for children and adults. C.S. Lewis was greatly influenced by his work.

Madeleine L’Engle
While she may never have visited Writer’s Block, L’Engle did know about “pinches,” which she wrote about in A Wrinkle in Time.

Frances Havergal
British hymn writer, God Will Take Care of You (hymn that Bea sings)

William Shakespeare

Rembrandt

Isaac Newton

BOOK 2: RACE TO KRAKATOA 

KRAKATOA
When the island of Krakatoa erupted in 1883, it impacted the entire globe. To this day it is considered the loudest sound ever made. In the aftermath, the island itself was no more, but left behind a smaller volcano, now known as Anak Krakatoa (or Anak Krakatau).

GLOBO GARDENS
At one point in the book, Jack and Ronald mention their friend Bill. They are referring to William Pène du Bois, who wrote the book, The Twenty-One Balloons. His concept of a balloon platform flying away from Krakatoa inspired the idea for Globo Gardens.

…AND NOW MIGUEL
The book Everett went Leap Reading into after his dad left for California was a good one. Joseph Krumgold won a Newbery Award for it not long before Everett read it.

Warren’s Blacking Factory
Charles Dickens did in fact work at at the Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, a shoe polish company near where his family was in debtor’s prison. How much Ink he managed to squirrel away in shoe polish tins is still a much debated fact among those who study such things.

MARIGOLD
Gilroy’s Fomentori sister, Marigold, is named in honor of Mary Golda Ross, the first known female Native American engineer. For more than 40 years, she worked at Lockheed, paving the way for other women entering STEM careers. While she was Cherokee and not Maya, I wanted Marigold’s presence to pay a small tribute to her remarkable achievements.

REMI & ROMANO
The twins that Everett & Bea meet in Rome pay homage to the supposed founders of that city, Remus and Romulus. Legend has it that those twins got in some pretty nasty fights with each other as well.

BASILE FAMILY
I decided Remi and Romano should be part of the Basile family to connect them to Giambattista Basile, who is credited with having the oldest collection of fairytales. Who knew that was a thing anyone was tracking?? Anyway, it sounded like the sort of thing an Inkling of old would collect for posterity.

RED SAILS TO CAPRI
This book by Ann Weil was first published in 1952, so it could definitely have been in Bea and Everett’s library. It was a Newbery Honor recipient for its telling of the rediscovery of the Blue Grotto.

BLUE GROTTO
Speaking of the Blue Grotto, it really is a magical place on the island of Capri. You can only access it by small row boats, and even then you have to lean back as you enter the small opening so you don’t hit your head. The brilliant blue hues inside are attributed to the way the sun comes through an opening under the water, but I think we can all agree it’s just as likely that the color is attributed to Ink.

THE SULTAN’S PEN
The very first fountain pen design is credited to Fatimid caliph Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah. Well, technically, one of his brilliant unnamed subjects. The caliph demanded somebody come up with a pen that wouldn’t leak all over his expensive clothes.

Al-Mu’izz really was friends with the Pope of Alexandria, which is where the thought came in to hide a copy of the pen in St. Mark’s Cathedral. In any case, an ancient historian recorded this description of the pen that was made for him.

…not more than a few days passed before the craftsman, to whom the construction of this contrivance had been described, brought in the pen, fashioned from gold. He then filled it with ink and wrote with it, and it really did write. The pen released a little more ink than was necessary. Hence al-Mu'izz ordered that it should be adjusted slightly, and he did this. He brought forward the pen and behold, it turned out to be a pen which can be turned upside down in the hand and tipped from side to side, and no trace of ink appears from it. When a secretary takes up the pen and writes with it, he is able to write in the most elegant script that could possibly be desired; then, when he lifts the pen off the sheet of writing material, it holds in the ink. I observed that it was a wonderful piece of work, the like of which I had never imagined I would ever see.

MOUND OF SHARDS (CATACOMBS OF KOM EL SHOQAFA)
These catacombs are a genuine archaeological site in Alexandria. While the statue of the Scarabesse is apparently still submerged underwater in the lower levels, you can still see the likeness of a pair of Black Vermis on the walls on either side of the columns in this picture. Some have even claimed to spot engravings of Cyno on other walls in the other chambers.

SULAIMAN MOUNTAINS
This mountain range runs through Afghanistan and Pakistan and has all kinds of interesting geological features. And Ronald is correct in the story that there is a legend about the Prophet Solomon attached to these mountains. It seemed like the right kind of rock formations for Marigold to use when sending a coded message to her brother.

CHINNAMALAI
Trey takes Everett and Bea to a place reputed to be a miraculous healing spring. You can visit it for yourself in Chennai. Legend has it that St. Thomas struck the rock and the water appeared to quench the thirst of those who came to listen to him.

Whatever the source of the spring, we can confidently rule it out as an Inkwell.

MT. SNEFFELS (Snæfellsjökull)
Jack makes a brief reference to this mountain when the group first arrives under Anak Krakatoa, and Trey recognizes that it is the volcano Jules Verne talked about in his book, A Journey to the Center of the Earth. But it is also a real volcano in Iceland.

ASTRID LINDGREN
Astrid wrote the ever-popular Pippi Longstocking books that Bea loved so much. Here she is with her daughter, Karin. You can see why Bea would have reminded her of her daughter.

Also, Astrid did in fact share a publisher with J.R.R. Tolkien, so had they met at Globo Gardens, they would undoubtedly have taken a moment to catch up.

PAUL HUTCHENS
When Everett goes Leap Reading into the cabin, it’s based on Old Man Paddler’s cabin from The Sugar Creek Gang. Paul Hutchens wrote an entire series of these books that was enormously popular with boys in America around the time that Everett would have been the right age to read them.

OTHER AUTHORS/LITERARY REFERENCES

PAUL HUTCHENS

NORIKO IBARAGI

CYPRIAN ETWENSI

JIVRAM JOSHI