Design principles and initial results are presented for a magnetic bottle electron spectrometer of high collection efficiency (2&pgr; sr) and good energy resolution. The instrument duplicates the carefully shaped axially decreasing magnetic field configuration of Kruit and Read [J. Phys. E16, 313 (1983)], but replaces the high‐field electromagnet central to the Kruit–Read design with two simple pole pieces energized by permanent magnets. The use of permanent magnets requires modifications of the transition region (between the high‐field electron production zone and the low‐field drift tube analyzer) to avoid axial field reversals associated with fringing fields.