It amazes me what people will ask on the internet: “Why is European notebook paper in a grid format (i.e. horizontal and vertical lines) instead of simply horizontal lines?” Someone’s helpful answer: It’s not. I live in Europe (Netherlands), and we have both. There are notebooks with vertical lines, and there are notebooks with grids. … Continue reading Dumb Notebook Questions→
I noticed that the Moleskine I’m currently using seemed not to open quite as flat as my previous one. Closer inspection led me to discover that this notebook has only 8 signatures of pages, and the old one had 12. When I looked through various other Moleskines in my collection, I found a mix– most … Continue reading Moleskine Monday: How Many Signatures→
I like the look of this forthcoming book! What a beautiful cover. The Blue Notebook is not available until July 2009, but here’s a teaser: An unforgettable, deeply affecting tribute to the powers of imagination and the resilience of childhood, The Blue Notebook tells the story of Batuk, a precocious 15-year-old girl from rural India … Continue reading The Blue Notebook, by James Levine→
Courtesy of Dave’s Mechanical Pencils: The Vespiaries products are all handmade. My notebook is a small hardcover notebook, 140mm tall x 95mm wide x 14mm thick. It oozes sturdiness. The pages are plain unlined white paper. I’m no expert on paper, but this paper feels a little thicker, and has a rougher surface finish than … Continue reading Handmade Notebook by The Vespiary→
Ooh, can’t wait for these! According to a press release on Moleskine.com, there are some neat new planners coming for next year: Moleskine Color a Month Daily Diary Box Set: 12-months: one color per month Packed in an elegant black case with elastic strap, each of the notebooks in this series of twelve is a … Continue reading New Moleskine Diaries for 2010→
Check out all these wonderfully collaged journals from Ugly is the New Cute: The owner stumbled across these notebooks after she had to empty out a filing cabinet in order to move it: However what called to me more were the 10+ notebooks & journals from sophomore year in high school through college. I skimmed … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week→
According to New York Magazine: Arriving April 1 from Stockholm, Whitelines notebooks have gray-tone pages that are cool on the eyes ($3 at Kate’s Paperie, 72 Spring St. nr. Crosby St.; 212-941-9816 See more products at the Whitelines web page. The concept is that the white lines on grey paper is not only easy on … Continue reading Whitelines Notebooks at Kate’s Paperie→
Here’s another wonderful notebook from the past. It belonged to James Haden (1790 – 1871), a member of a family engineering firm in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. James was “the partner in the firm who travelled the country erecting, supervising and taking orders for the installation of warm air heating & ventilating stoves and expanding the … Continue reading An Engineer’s Notebook, c.1830→
One of the frequent comments on Piccadilly’s Moleskine-like notebooks has been that people wish there was a version with graph/ squared paper. Well, wish no more! According to the Piccadilly website, they’ll have them in April! The question, though, is whether any retailers will have them. Black Cover’s review mentioned that a gridded version was … Continue reading Piccadilly Squared Notebooks Coming in April→
From Affinity, by Sarah Waters, a dark and moody novel of psychological suspense set in the Victorian era: I saw her looking at the pictures I have pinned at the side of my desk, and then at this book. I had closed the covers, but had my pen between the pages to keep the place. … Continue reading A Victorian Journal Full of Dark Thoughts→
Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, diaries: in search of the perfect page…