(thankyou Uncle Google)
One even explains which birds, which wing, which quills and why. Not bad...
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa100197.htm
http://www.ringpen.com/history.html
Hope it helps.
Amazon has some stuff but I can't see how specific the books are on quills exactly.
It seems that 1840 is just exactly when quills began to stay on birds thanks to the rise of Osmium, Rhodium and Iridium alloy steel nibs.
One of these articles also says that the first patent for a "practical" fountain pen was granted to Mr. Waterman in 1884. Osmiroid was one of my first, Waterman one of my last (I hope!)
Best regards
Amenon