Such an interesting article from Atlas Obscura. I’d never heard the term “zibaldone” before! ONE DAY IN VENICE, SOMETIME near the end of the 14th century, a busy merchant found himself with a few spare moments. Maybe it was a slow day at the docks, or he arrived home too early for dinner. Whatever the reason, he … Continue reading What’s a Zibaldone?
Below is a notebook or diary of a type that seems to have been very common in the mid-late 1800s. This one belonged to Julia Wilbur, a teacher, abolitionist, and suffragette from Rochester, NY whose diaries have been archived at Haverford College. “In 1862, she traveled on her own to Washington and Alexandria, then Union-occupied, … Continue reading Julia Wilbur’s Notebooks
Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, was famous for always carrying a pocket notebook in which he jotted notes and ideas. After seeing this mentioned in various books, I was curious to see what kind of notebooks he used. A little research brought me to the website of The Henry Ford, which comprises … Continue reading Notebooks Used by Henry and Edsel Ford
If you happen to be in New York in the next few days, you might want to check out the “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” exhibition about the history of Louis Vuitton, especially since it’s free! Some of it is just advertising for the brand, but what makes it interesting is that it looks back at the … Continue reading Louis Vuitton Exhibition in NYC
This is from a couple of months ago, a notebook that belonged to Agatha Christie was being auctioned: Crime novelist Agatha Christie’s handwritten notebook in which she plotted ideas for one of her detective novels is up for auction. The 1948, “regular, off-the-shelf†bound notebook, which features a hand-drawn ink sketch Christie made to illustrate … Continue reading Agatha Christie’s Notebook
This is an antique notebook I found on eBay. These kinds of diaries seem to have been issued to soldiers during World War I & II, to encourage the recording of memories of the battles fought in, places seen, friendships made, etc. It also includes some handy French phrases. This notebook is completely blank– I … Continue reading World War I Soldier’s Diary
I go through phases of being extremely disorganized as a blogger. People email me cool tips and sometimes I don’t get to them for a while, and then sometimes I am not sure whether I’ve used them or not. And in the case of this post, someone emailed me all these great photos, which I … Continue reading Notebooks from a Mental Hospital
I’ve been doing a lot of handwriting practice lately, playing with fountain pens in my old Hobonichi Techo. There is something very satisfying about it… but also frustrating, as I aspire to a level of fluid elegance that I don’t think I’ll ever attain! So I was quite amazed to see the image below as … Continue reading The History of Handwriting
This sounds like an interesting exhibit, at the Concord Museum in Massachusetts: This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal. “The show centers on the journal Thoreau kept throughout his life and its importance in understanding the essential Thoreau. More than twenty of Thoreau’s journal notebooks are shown along with letters and manuscripts, books from … Continue reading Exhibition Featuring Henry David Thoreau’s Journals
You may have heard about the movie Victoria and Abdul, which stars Judi Dench as Queen Victoria, and Ali Fazal as a young Indian servant named Abdul Karim, whom she became close to. He taught her to speak and write in Urdu, which she practiced in notebooks such as the one below. Karim kept his … Continue reading Queen Victoria’s Urdu Notebook