He nibbled the penholder, rumpled his hair, picked up the ivory elephant and balanced it, plunged furiously into work again, paused, stared at the Persian carpet, turned the inkwell around, worked, paused, sighed.
"The Voice in the Fog"
Harold MacGrath
Around him all was darkness, a darkness so deep and so black that for a moment he thought he had put his head into an inkwell.
"The Adventures of Pinocchio"
C. Collodi--Pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini
Now Paul had mislaid some of his papers; now he had left the stopper off the inkwell, now he had put his shoes where he couldn't find them.
"Jane Lends A Hand"
Shirley Watkins