Below is a corner of my office where I was going through boxes of notebooks and had stashed some used ones that needed to be put away. There are a few months of daily notebooks, notebooks already reviewed, notebooks to be reviewed, and some childhood notebooks. (All of these have now been put back in a closet– I try to keep the notebook clutter under control!)

A close-up of some of the daily notebooks. I write the dates they cover on the bottom.

On top of my file cabinet: some stray samples to be given away someday, and some stuff already reviewed, and a small looseleaf binder I used many years ago that I’ll do a post on at some point.

Here’s the shelves in one of my closets: shoeboxes full of small notebooks, and stacks of larger journals and sketchbooks.

Here on a bookshelf are my Moleskine City Notebooks (though I’ve since bought more). Amsterdam is the only one in this stack that I haven’t used yet. The others are New York, London, Paris, Istanbul and Lisbon.

And finally, this is the stack of notebooks-in-waiting I keep in my desk. These are all notebooks that have made the cut as ones I like enough to use as daily notebooks or sketchbooks at some point (mostly Moleskines, HandBook Journals, Piccadillies, and a couple of others). I’m not worried about running out at the moment… but only because I have an additional stack of spares elsewhere!

There are close to 100 notebooks visible in these photos, not counting the ones in the unopened shoeboxes and additional notebooks I have stored elsewhere. Welcome to my world!

From Zack:

I really like taking notes when learning. It helps me map out math in my head a lot better than just thinking about it. I’ve been looking for a good large-sized notebook to write in, maybe around A4 sized paper. Can you suggest some? Cost might be an issue, due to being a student.

There are certainly lots of good options for a notebook this size–Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Doane Paper’s large Idea Journal, Whitelines– but they might be a little pricey for a student budget. What’s your favorite lower-priced notebook?

From Park, a similar question:

Hi do you know of any notebooks that WILL NOT BLEED?  I am an excessive notetaker for school and it is extremely vexing when the paper I am using bleeds… Do you have any recommendations of standard sized notebooks that will not bleed? Thanks!

I’m guessing this means an A4 or 8.5×11″ size notebook since this is for school use. Again, Rhodia or Clairefontaine would be good bets, though a bit more expensive than what most students probably want to pay. If you can use something smaller and aren’t worried about price, I’m sure the Hitlist notebook I reviewed recently wouldn’t disappoint!

From Rowland:

I read something a while ago about a ‘notebook’ which opened out sort of Japanese fashion – but into an A3 size – I think they were made and distributed in Singapore.
Any ideas?

I can’t think of any Japanese (accordion fold-out) notebooks other than Moleskine’s, so I’m stumped… below are some more tough ones!

From Rick:

I use a leather-refillable journal for notes, etc, and I tear out used pages, so I am looking for one that has perforated pages to make a clean tear. Do you know of any that are like that?

From Paige:

Hello! I am a high school science teachers, and I want to recommend a notebook for my students for the upcoming year. I would ideally like something like a composition book (where pages aren’t easily removable) that has lined AND blank pages- maybe lined on the front, blank on the back. I will be teaching Astronomy and Earth science, and the notes will be heavy on drawings and sketches, so I want my students to not feel limited by the lines on the page.
Help!

TeNeues CoolNotes and Grandluxe Dialogue notebooks have pages that are lined on only one side, but I doubt these are easy enough to find or cheap enough for most high school students, and they’re smaller than a composition book.

Thanks to all my lovely readers for any help or advice you can provide!

I’m an addict.  Although I have more than in my photos, I don’t really have
more than I will use (except let’s not count my addiction to Field
Notes, yeesh).  These photos show most of my journals from the last 20
years.  Not shown are the contents of a box I didn’t dig out of the
hall closet, full of spiral notebooks from my teen years and various
journals I kept in the early 90s, maybe a dozen different notebooks
covering about ten years.

Notebooks 1 is a photo of my composition books.  Most of them are
full, and most of them were used to write Morning Pages a la Julia
Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.”  I have a short stack of these that are
unused and will probably get used for Morning Pages in the future.  My
favorites are cheap ones I bought at Target during back-to-school (the
big stack), but I really love the ones by eeBoo.  They’re expensive,
but the hardback covers are sweet and the paper is thick and nice.

Notebooks 2 are leather or leather-ish journals, all but one of these
are full of journal writing from over the years.  My favorite is the
Exacompta, I had several of these that I carried with me constantly in
the early to mid 90s, they’re all full of the ephemera of my life back
then, movie stubs, receipts, notes from friends, photos, and many many
poems.  There are also a couple of Moleskines, which I liked a lot,
but have stopped using because they aren’t very fountain pen friendly.

Notebooks 3 are various hardback journals, and others.  The pink one
with flowers in the upper right is my current journal, mostly Morning
Pages, but some other stuff in there, too.  It’s also my current
favorite style, a Mead/Plan Ahead Jumbo Journal, the paper takes all
but the very wettest of my fountain pens (the plaid and the green one
with “Frida says” on the front are also Jumbo Journals).  The pages of
these are perforated and I have a couple that I use for letter
writing.  I should mention that Frida is the name of my journal (all
of them) and 90% of my entries, including my morning pages, are
written as letters to Frida (named after the artist Frida Kahlo).

And finally, Field Notes and Scout Books.  The ones on the top are full. I
carry one in my purse or pocket all the time, and use them for grocery
lists and jotting notes for this and that.  I use one about every
eight weeks or so.  The bottom row are unused, Field Notes, a
Moleskine, a couple of Black Apple scout books, and two tiny notebooks
at friend gave me recently.  I do have a bunch more blank Field Notes
because I have a hard time resisting the new colors.

Whew! Lots of notebooks!

Thanks for sharing this fabulous collection, Aimee!

Here’s what Carmen has to say about that gorgeous tower:

Here is my collection as of [August 2010]. Last count 156, from the biggest- a Whiteline- to the smallest, a Rhodia. and no, they are not used at all. they are a collection… Every now and then someone asks for a notebook for a specific task, and I look and give it to them if I have it. The plan is for my niece to start inheriting them one by one when she learns to write this year… I have from your basic Composition notebook, to Exaclairs, Clairefontaines, Moleskines, Field Notes, Doane Paper, Miquelrius, Picadilly, etc, the latest addition are the notebooks that my sister recently brought me from her trip to China, that are absolutely gorgeous.

The variety! The colors! The perfectly graduated tower! And even I don’t have 156 unused notebooks!! (At least I’m pretty sure I don’t…) But I feel that this photo has given me permission to feel less guilty about the stockpile I do have!

Big thanks again to Carmen for sharing her love of notebooks– with me, with her niece, with other recipients of her notebook (and pen) gifts, and with everyone who reads this website!

As for the other kind of Black Friday, if you can’t handle visiting stores today, do your holiday shopping online using these links and a small commission from your purchases will help support this site:

Notebook Stories Store – my collection of notebooks and other favorites available via Amazon

Amazon — everything else at Amazon

Blick Art Materials — a great selection of journals, sketchbooks and other art supplies, often at discounted prices. The offer FREE SHIPPING on orders totaling $200 or more– and below $200 it’s a flat rate of $6.95 regardless of the order size.

Thanks, and happy holidays!

Look at the spine below– even the staples seem perfectly spaced.

Inside, the grid/line paper is carefully aligned with the edges, nothing askew.

It’s very nice paper to write on– not quite as smooth as Clairefontaine paper, but it worked beautifully with all my rollerball pens. Show-through wasn’t too bad, though a few pens did bleed through a bit. I understand that an earlier run of these notebooks was made with heavier paper, which I’m kind of sorry I missed.

The grid+line concept is handy, but in using one of the larger Doane Paper pads to take notes in meetings at work, I found that the line spacing was a bit too big for me– I tend to write pretty small, and as you can see below, my natural line spacing doesn’t seem to quite jive with the Doane Paper lines. I might have preferred having a line to every 2 grid boxes instead of every 3.

I also loved the Idea Book they threw in. It’s a nice size, and has very sturdy, thick cardboard covers, which overhang the edges of the paper a bit. This is pretty much the perfect large wirebound notebook, as far as I’m concerned, notwithstanding the line spacing issues I mentioned above, though I have to say it seems a wee bit pricey at $10.95.

Again everything seems nice and square. It’s just a nice, simple notebook, just well-made.

There is one sheet of plain paper inside the back cover.

My only complaint about these notebooks is that the Doane branding seems very blatant, particularly on the Utility Notebooks– I don’t blame them for wanting to get their name out there, but I wish it was less conspicuous. I think I just feel a bit self-conscious carrying around a product that tells the world that I am a big geek who cares SO much about what I jot my notes in that I have to buy some obscure, high-concept product because regular old notebooks just aren’t good enough for me– I’m not saying this isn’t true, but I don’t want to advertise it that much!

But that said, I really love the quality of these products, and it’s nice to know you can support a small business who cares so much about doing what they do well, not to mention having fabulous customer service.

To order Doane Paper products, visit their online store page.

Utility Notebooks, 3.5 x 5.5″, $9.50 for a set of 3, available in black as shown or in traffic light colors.

Idea Journal, 8.375 x 10.875″, $10.95 each. Also available in 5.25 x 6.875″ size for $8.95.

40% off coupons at Borders are indeed dangerous!

Moleskine, Doane, and Rhodia… A little much? « Cat’s Jot Spot.

Pinball Publishing is the Portland, Oregon-based company that makes the Doane Paper Utility notebooks. They also offer a similar small notebook called the Scout Book. On their website, you can choose paper, different colored covers, and upload a logo for printing. The minimum order for a basic notebook is $150 for 50 unlined notebooks with black printing on the cover. Other paper styles and ink colors cost a bit more. If you go through a lot of notebooks, or want to give something unique as gifts, these would be a great option.

PINBALL PUBLISHING : The Original Scout Book.

[Via The Notebook Addict]