[6][8] Nowadays, Pelikan manufactures a wide range of products including writing implements, art materials and office goods.

[9] The roots of the company can be traced back to 1838, when chemist Carl Hornemann founded a color and ink factory in Hanover, Germany.

The company expanded its range of distribution to Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia, then establishing a new factory in Vienna.

Fritz Beindorff, the owner of Pelikan at the time, was one of the sixteen initial signatories of the 1932 Industrielleneingabe, urging President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Adolf Hitler as chancellor.

[12][13] In 1978, Pelikan became a stock corporation, changing its legal form from a GmbH to an AG, with shares being divided within the Beindorff family and 46 other owners.

[15] By the time of the acquisition, Herlitz's production facilities were located in the town of Falkensee, Brandenburg, with other plants in Poland, Romania and Great Britain.