From Bobby:
I’m trying to find a notebook that is “normal” sized ~8.5×11 and is cream/light green colored like the computation pads, and have a grid that is very faint to the point where if you photocopied it, it probably wouldn’t show up. (not a deal breaker, but that’s the type of faint I’m looking for). I’d like it with either spiral bound or some other type of binding that allows for laying flat. I’d love some sort of classic retro-y looking cover, but really it’s the guts that count. I’m not really interested in the engineering computation notebooks that are available mainly due to the heaviness of the grids on those notebooks. I guess they figured since its a notebook and you can’t use the grid-through-the-back-of-the-sheet trick, they’d just make them normal darker grid.
This is a stumper! Whitelines notebooks shouldn’t show their grid lines when photocopied, but the greyish paper might not be pleasing compared to a cream/light green. I’ve also seen legder notebooks with greenish pages and fairly faint lines, but not spiral bound. Does anyone else have any ideas for Bobby?

From Howard:

Do you know if there are Moleskine like notepads with legal pad yellow colored pages?  It seems weird, but I find jotting my notes down on yellow tinted pages quite pleasing.

I’ve seen small notepads that have yellow legal paper, but never anything in a Moleskine-like notebook.

From Nena:

I am looking for a really thick notebook – i.e. it has many many pages that is lined. Do you have any suggestions?

I’ve seen very thick notebooks with unlined pages, such as this one, but the thickest lined notebooks I’ve seen are probably these ones from Miquelrius, which have up to 300 pages and are available in squared and lined pages.

From Jeffrey:
I am wondering if you know what the best best book for me would be. I mostly like to draw with technical pens or pretty much put the ink straight on the page. I have one of the Handbook notebooks, I like it, buts its just not quite there. If it had smoother paper, it would probably be it. I like the thickness of the paper in them. What other notebook would you recommend other than the Handbook ones?

If you want something with smooth but thick paper, I would try one of the Moleskine Sketchbooks, or the Pen & Ink Heavy-Weight Sketch Book. Either of those should work well with that kind of pen, I think. I like the Hand Book Sketchbooks best for watercolor, pencil, or magic markers, but with fine-point pens, I love the creamy texture of the Moleskine, and the heavier paper used in the sketchbooks bleeds through much less than the lighter paper used in their other notebooks.

From Claudia:
I am trying to find a softcover notebook with “wide rule” lines and can’t seem to find anything besides the old marble-composition books, and I have a ton of those. Any ideas?

Have you tried Clairefontaine notebooks? I think the lines are usually wide rule and they have various cover and binding options.

Whew! That’s a lot of questions, and I have more on hand that I’ll feature in future posts. Thanks for writing, everyone, and thanks to all the readers out there who may also have suggestions!

I am student of classical archaeology (hardly working on the dissertation thesis) and few months ago I found your website. I was so glad that I am not the only one, who is really “possessed”:) Please, take this as a big thanks for your work:)

01 – This is my “almost black” collection with Moleskine, Miquelrius, Filofax and some notebooks without name. The A4-Nightmare Jack notebook I bought in Turkey and it is absolutely perfect:)

02-03 Details of my recycled notebooks from Rome (purchased in Capitoline Museums). They are beautiful, but it took lot of time to find the right pen for writing in these – the paper is rough, so the fountain pens are bleeding and the ballpoints are almost invisible there; but Faber Castell Drafting and Sketching pen 0.1 is perfect for it.

04 – My “working” notebooks. I am using them for notices about pottery, sketching the fragments. Except the pink one, all these are from Austria – “not-a-big-brand” perfect notebooks, very cheap and much more useful than Moleskine (I was so disappointed with the quality of lined journals: I cannot use my favourite fountain pens…). Those blue and orange notebooks are produced by company called Ursus (the bear) and they are extremely comfortable:)

05-08 This is my most beautiful notebook Asia. Here you can see the front cover, inner design, back pocket and back cover. Together with my ink collection, pens, nibs and nib holders, and my personal sealer with one piece of sealing wax:) I am freak when it comes to things like these…

09 I am sending you an example of my personal seal:) Hope you like it:)

10 This is little greeting from me, my little Coraline and my present notebook:)

I love the variety, and the tiny handwriting. Using a wax seal is a neat touch, too. Big thanks to Andrea for all these wonderful photos!

Here’s a few of my recent purchases and samples I’ve received that you’ll get a look at in the next couple of months:

Simple Diary

Rhodia Notepad

Kolo Essex Travel Book

Tops Designer Notebook

Monologue and Dialogue Notebooks from Grandluxe

Blackwell Notebook

Revolver Journal

Scribe Notebook

Ecosystem Journals

Miquelrius Notebook

Kiki James Leather Jotter

Maruman and Pilot Notebooks from Kinokuniya

And who knows what other new notebooks lurk over the horizon! Stay tuned…

I love you, I love your website, and I love all the other people out there who love notebooks.  I used to think I was the only one!  No more….

First a shot of my lifetime in notebooks, kept on and off since I was twelve (I’m 48).

Then my current stash.  The top three are in use, the others are lying in wait.  Their number is smaller than usual because I just gave a pile of rejects to a thrift store.

Currently coveting: another Miquelrius, Rhodia ePure, Bob’s Your Uncle Do-Doodle.

I asked Carol about the small green notebook in the lower left corner of the second photo, as I really liked the look of it and hadn’t seen anything quite like it:

The little green notebook is old, though I have no idea how old. Someone gave it to me, it’s made by a company called Warwick, and it’s actually called “Album of Snapshots” with heavy paper for mounting pictures (the pages are perforated, and the instructions say to remove every other one, I guess so the book will keep it’s shape once the photos are in), but I figured it would work for collage, drawing, etc. too.

Finally, here’s a question Carol was pondering. I’ve often wondered the same thing, and I’ll bet many other readers have too:

Has anyone ever put forward a psychological theory as to WHY we love notebooks so much? I mean, I understand the need to be creative and remember things and make lists and whatnot, but loving the actual physical notebooks, keeping empty ones around and still buying more, always looking for a better one?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments…but it may just be one of those mysteries of the world that we’ll never understand!

A big thanks again to Carol for sharing her notebook addiction!

From the Toronto Globe & Mail:

He’s already designed for some of the coolest companies (Nike, BMW), showed at the best galleries (Tate Modern, MoMa) and even invaded our homes (with Umbra’s critically acclaimed Artala garbage can). So what’s left for visual artist/Web designer Joshua Davis to conquer? If not our hearts, then certainly things equally portable, like our notebooks and bags.

Next week, the enterprising Davis teams up with Miquelrius paper company to launch a new line of stationery goods and accessories. All bags and book covers are wrapped in art from his previous works, including lush Japanese-inspired floral patterns and spy-tinged takes on the world map.

Our favourite is the datebook (about $8), which features all the trappings of a Moleskine, including a pocket on the inside cover, but none of the ubiquity.

Visit www.joshuadavis.com for more details.

The first one is this 4″ x 5 3/4″ Cahier de Toilex made in Japan by Maruman. It’s not my ideal size, but I love the tight double wire binding, and the cover has a simulated canvas texture. The brand info is actually a stuck-on label, not just printed on the cover. The paper inside is lined and quite smooth. I bought this beauty in San Francisco, I think, in the mid-1990s. I used about 1/4 of the pages for work-related jottings.

The next one is a bit of a mystery. This chunky, flexible notebook measures about 4 1/8″ x 5 3/4″. It’s similar to some Miquelrius notebooks I’ve seen, but there is no brand or country of origin marked anywhere on the notebook itself. The paper inside is unlined. I used about 12 pages of it for some sketches during a beach trip about 10 years ago, but never used it for work notes. I have no memory of where I bought it.

Here’s a notebook that could have some future re-use potential. The leather cover is actually a Coach passport holder– I love the feel of the leather and I’m thinking I may just convert it back to its original purpose. (When I bought this, I didn’t even have a passport.) Inside is a Clairfontaine notebook, a small staple-bound one with lined paper. I had to cut the covers slightly to make them slide into the passport holder, but the pages were a perfect fit! It’s actually a great little notebook– a few pages were torn out, and a few others have notes on them, but otherwise I don’t seem to have used this much at all. I don’t know why!

Finally, I have a very basic little looseleaf notebook, probably bought in an office supply store in mid-town Manhattan near where I used to work. I tried to use it as a sort of budget Filofax, adding a clear plastic pocket and some post-it notes mounted on the inside back pocket. I guess I gave up on using it and moved any paper in it to some other Filofax– all that’s left is a couple small notes, a few old business cards from 3 jobs ago, and a stamp.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with these– probably stick them back in my desk drawer for another few years!

Today I spent part of my lunch hour browsing at Paper Access. They must have just recently gotten in a lot of their fall merchandise, as I noticed a lot of new things I hadn’t seen on my last visit.

They had the Eco Jot notebooks I posted about recently, which actually come in two sizes, approx 6×8″ and 4×6″ if I’m remembering correctly. They also had Goldline notebooks made by Tollit and Harvey, who manufacture the Guildhall notebooks. Paper Access seemed to be down to only one last Guildhall in the pocket size– perhaps Black Cover wiped them out! I prefer the Goldline notebooks anyway, as they have unlined paper, though I’m not crazy about their pastel suede covers.

I also spotted a whole shelf of Cavallini notebooks in wonderfully colorful retro designs– I’ve been a fan of these since the early 1990s– their cover designs are fabulous, even though I’ve never loved the size and the ones I’ve owned didn’t have the greatest paper.

Paper Access now also stocks the HandBook journals, which they didn’t a few months ago. And of course they have the full line of Moleskines, and plenty of Rhodia, Miquelrius and Clairefontaine.

I do love this store, and I could easily have spent a ton of money– and there’s the rub: Paper Access is really expensive! They are now charging $12.95 for pocket-size Moleskines, and the HandBook journals were $10.95 for the pocket size– each at least a dollar or two more than they cost at A.I. Friedman just a block away. But browsing is free, and I have a backlog of empty notebooks to use right now anyway!