On March 30, 1858, inventor Hymen L. Lipman patented the first pencil with a built-in eraser—then sold it for $100,000. Believe it or not, this is not the first time in history that a little stick of ...

According to historians, pencils descended from an ancient Roman writing instrument called a stylus, a thin metal rod. The stylus was used on a wax tablet for marking or scribing text. The wax tablet ...