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!

I guess you could argue that the quiz might not be that informative and doesn’t show a ton of diversity– the “what would you wear” choices in particular looked to me like “Do you shop at Banana Republic, Banana Republic, Banana Republic or Banana Republic?” But other questions might show more insight into your design preferences, and the Lost Crates folks use that information to select your stationery items.

Lost Crates invited me to review their service for free, so I signed up and answered the quiz as truthfully as I could. Here’s the result:

Your “crate” is a nice sturdy box. When you open it, there’s a greeting on the inside of the lid, and your products are nicely wrapped and cushioned in shredded paper. (Not styrofoam peanuts, thank goodness!) They tuck in a card that tells you what’s included.

I was very pleased with my selection. I prefer blank and squared notebooks to lined ones, and that’s what I got. I’m not a huge fan of Field Notes, but only because I find their branding a bit much. And I would not buy the pens or the Leisure Log for myself, but I did like them. (The flowered pen is a rollerball that writes quite nicely, the cardboard ones are regular ballpoints, which I don’t love, but the highlighter end is great.) There really wasn’t anything in the crate that made me say “ugh, that’s not me at all!”

Of course, given that I write this blog where I very publicly describe all my quirky notebook preferences, it’s not exactly a fair test of their ability to match products to people. I was tempted to sign up again under a friend’s name and answer all the questions differently to see what I’d get, but I didn’t feel like spending $38! That is the monthly cost, which seemed a bit steep to me– you have to be a pretty committed stationery freak to want to spend that much every single month on products you may or may not like. There is no “satisfaction guaranteed” promise– if you don’t like your stuff, you are asked to send them feedback and consider retaking the quiz. They don’t accept returns, but you can cancel any time (it has to be by the first of the month to avoid being billed for that month’s crate).
But on the flip side, $38 probably was a good price for what I received. The Moleskine lists for $17.95, the Leisure Notebook has a list price of $12.24 according to Amazon, who sell it marked down to $9.04. A Field Notes 3-pack is $9.95. So right there you have about $40 worth of stuff without counting the pens and pencil box. And the shipping is included, within the US.

I might not be the best target customer for this service– though I am definitely a stationery addict, I have pretty particular tastes. I also live in New York City, where I have access to stores with a huge selection of stationery that I can look at and touch before buying it. (And I’m also a reviewer who needs to keep some space free for samples that arrive frequently!) But if you are a stationery addict who likes surprises, and if your local shopping options don’t offer a lot of excitement, it’s certainly worth a try. I’d love to hear from others who have received a crate or two– did the quiz accurately reflect your tastes? (And what kind of stationery do you get if you say you watch Jersey Shore?!)

I’m going to give away some of these goodies to a randomly selected reader. You can enter in any or all of these ways:

On Twitter, tweet something containing  “@lostcrates” and “@NotebookStories.”

On Facebook, “like” the  Notebook Stories page and post something containing the words “Lost Crates” on my wall.

On your blog, post something containing the words “Lost Crates” and “NotebookStories” and link back to this post.

The deadline for entry is Friday August 26 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone!

 It’s an amazing variety, from a simple Mead composition book to some tiny handmade notebooks bound in Guatemalan(?) textiles. There’s a small notebook that comes with a mirror inside and a chain so you can wear it around your neck. There are Levenger Circa system disks and refills. There is an elephant dung paper journal. Some of my favorites were the journal with multi-colored leaf pages, and the Barnes & Noble/Miquelrius co-branded notebook. They’re every size and shape and color and texture! Obviously Anene is a devoted collector. She says “I share your addiction. And if I send you my duplicates…I’ll be able to go out, guilt-free and buy more!”

I’ll be sharing some of Anene’s generosity with some lucky readers: since I’m starting to run out of room for all the wonderful gifts and samples people send me, I’m going to start doing more random giveaways, and the first one is today! The randomly selected winner will receive an assortment of up to 5 randomly selected notebooks, including some of these. If you like surprises, enter in any of these ways:

On Twitter, tweet something containing the words “random notebooks” and “@NotebookStories.”

On Facebook, “like” the  Notebook Stories page and post something containing the words “random notebooks” on my wall.

On your blog, post something containing the words “random notebooks” and “NotebookStories” and link back to this post.

And for those who don’t use the above options, you can also enter by leaving a comment on this post about why you need more notebooks!

The deadline for entry is Friday August 12 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone! And thank you again to Anene for sharing her addiction and her notebooks with all of us!

Believe it or not, this is only my journal collection for the past ten years. My mother has my high school and college journals at home. Basically, my journals are just a week by week account of my life, a legacy of sorts to leave my family. As I get older, I find myself writing more about my philosophies and views on the world as well as the day to day stuff; as I have evolved, so have my journals…

I love the variety in this collection, which Jennie told me includes EcoJot, Miquelrius, and many more. See Jennie’s blog for larger versions of these photos and more information on how she uses them. (And also this related post poking fun at Moleskines!)
Thanks again, Jennie!

Love these photos, which include a friend standing in as a measuring tool! This was her collection as of March 31, 2011– I’m sure it’s grown since then!

You can see LOTS more pictures and read about all these luscious notebooks at Ina’s blog, 365inasnap.

Yes it is true, I love notebooks. I mean L.O.V.E.

I buy them because I like the size.
I buy them because I like the shape.
I buy them because of the cover.
I buy them because of the style.
I buy them because of the paper.
I but them because of the quality.
I buy them even when the quality is not so great.
I buy them because of the way they feel.
I buy them at full prize.
I buy them on sale. Especially when they are on sale!
I buy them for my children.
I buy them for gifts.
I buy one every time I go on vacation. (from the vacation spot)
I buy them when I’m just about done with the one I’m using.
I buy them when I don’t need them.
I just buy them.

Help! I keep buying notebooks and I can’t stop!

Here is my stash. I know, I know . . .
please ignore the rug mat sticking out from under the rug

That’s a total of 32 blank and ready to use notebooks/journals.

From Part 2:

My journal/diary, paper and pen obsession began as a child.  I loved to write in my little lock and key diaries, collect pencils with cute pictures on them and my name printed on the side.  I also loved those cute little erasers and would have them all lined up on my desk.  Yeah, yeah, I know,  I’m OCD.  I’ve admitted this already people!

I would sit at my desk or lay on a blanket in the back yard, pull out my little diaries and write and write.  However I was always embarrassed or ashamed of the words on those pages.  I would tear them out and discard them.  Oh how I wish I had kept them now.  I can’t remember anything I wrote, although I’d love to know what it was I felt compelled to put down on paper when I was a child and why did I feel so fearful of keeping those pages? Funny, the negative feelings remain – the need to remove my voice from those pages but not the positive  - what thoughts I put down on paper….

See the original posts for more photos and details about each journal.

Great collection, Shelley! Thanks for sharing your addiction with all of us!

I believe he said that was a Miquelrius notebook somewhere on his blog, but I got lost browsing around and then couldn’t remember where I’d read that! So much good stuff to look at…

See more at NOTEBOOK JUNE – NOVEMBER 2010 by Austin Kleon and on Flickr.

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!

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!