Here’s a notebook that gets a lot of points for style: the Iconic Essay Book. “Un Recueil D’Essais” means “collection of essays,” and this notebook suggests that you “write down every precious moment of your life”. The cover design looks like an old-fashioned book- various colors are available but the maroon color I chose seemed to go especially well with the retro concept. I first noticed these online back in 2014, and bought mine at Foyle’s in London in 2015.

 

Outside, you have a soft faux-leather cover. The notebook is pretty thick so it’s not super flexible and floppy, and the covers themselves are also pretty sturdy. The size is considered A6, but it is slightly taller than a pocket Moleskine, closer to the 3.5 x 6″ size used by Leuchtturm. I love the tightly rounded corners and the slender ribbon marker. The notebook has stitched signatures and opens perfectly flat.

Inside, you have a few sections. First, some pages with grid layouts that will work well for yearly and monthly planning or tracking. Then there is a section divider, as if to introduce the next chapter of the book: the Essais section, where you have a plain page on the left and a lined page on the right. There are page headers for you to note the “Essay No.” and a date. This takes up most of the notebook, and then at the end there is a small section of pages with a leafy diamond grid pattern. The very last page has a space for your personal contact info. There is no brand info other than “created by Iconic” on the last page, not even a web address!

It’s all very attractive and the undated layouts should make it a bullet journaler’s dream… until you try writing in it. The paper is a bright white and feels nice and smooth. My lovely  Uniball Style Fit pen worked so well in it that it was incredibly disappointing to try a fountain pen: disastrous feathering and bleed-through. Just a mess. I’d had high hopes that this was another Asian notebook with nice paper, similar to some of the Japanese notebooks I have, but it seems that this Korean brand doesn’t prioritize paper performance.

These tend to retail for between $14-19 USD. I paid £11 at Foyle’s, which would have been around $16.50 at the exchange rate at that time. This is very reasonable compared to some other planners of similar size and bulk, such as the Hobonichi Techo, but I’d gladly pay more for better paper.

Iconic seems to introduce new versions of the Essay Book every so often– mine is Version 4, and I’ve seen Version 5 available on Amazon and Version 6 on eBay and at the Journal Shop. The differences between the versions seem to be slight variations to the typography, and different layouts to the final section of paper– where mine has the leafy diamonds, Version 2 had pages that were plain on top and gridded on the bottom (see this review for photos.) This notebook isn’t exactly my favorite size but I love the colors and the chunky feel, and could see myself collecting a series of these in the different versions to use as yearly planners– but only if they improved the paper. Fingers crossed for Version 7!