Notebook Stories

Here’s a few things I pulled out of one of my storage boxes, about half of which is filled with childhood notebooks from the late ’70s to mid-’80s. First, a small orange looseleaf notebook. I was probably in about 6th grade when I decided to devote it to Astronomy and colored the cover with a [...]

I love these retro-look notebooks from Laughing Elephant, so many colorful designs:   Buy at Notebooks | Laughing Elephant.

Wow, I can’t believe I never heard about this gallery show when it was in New York this past fall: Dylan Stone’s 100 Years project at Ruth Phaneuf Fine Arts. I found out about it via a recent post at Design Observer: The Twentieth Century began on the morning of the 20th of August, 1900, [...]

These photos were submitted by former notebook addict of the week Paul, who is always a source of interesting tips! These diaries were kept by one of his family members from 1941-1944. The interior of the first one is an earlier version of the western diary I wrote about in this post, both made by [...]

A reader named Marjorie wrote to ask how my notebook collection started. It’s hard for me to remember exactly, because I’ve loved notebooks since before I can even remember! My parents have said that when I was about 3, I was already folding pieces of paper in to little booklets to scribble on. A few [...]

Wouldn’t you love to read what’s in this diary? Well, you can! Its owner has transcribed all the entries into a blog: In 1976, I read Dracula which is a book that is completely told through diary entries. It impressed me so much that at age 13 I decided it was time I marked the [...]

This unique item was a Christmas gift to me from one of the few people who knows I’m obsessed enough with notebooks to write this blog. Of course I was thrilled when I opened the wrapping paper and saw it:   The notebook is about 4×6″, with what appears to be a hand-painted suede cover. [...]

Here’s a notebook that I liked so much, I had to buy three of them. I still love the concept of these: the look of a composition book in a different size. I’ve always loved the black and white patterned covers of the traditional composition book, but I have not usually wanted to use something [...]

Here’s something that will ring a bell for many of you, as it did for me. It’s amazing how you can lose track of your tidying up when you get lost in the memories that old notebooks conjure up! So here it is another new year, and here I am once again, picking up and [...]

I spotted Wild & Wolf’s Qwerty line of products in a local store and just loved the idea: notebooks and other products with old style typewriter motifs! I contacted the company and they were kind enough to send me not only a sample Qwerty journal, but another funky notebook as well. Let’s take a look: [...]