Here’s an interesting question for those of us who have fragile antique notebooks– how do you protect and preserve them? Q: I have my grandmother’s 105-year-old notebook with her beautiful calligraphy. The ink is fading, and the pages are becoming more and more brittle. What is the proper way to preserve it? And is there … Continue reading How to Preserve a Notebook
Here’s an interesting little element of the generally sleazy and disgusting Jeffrey Epstein case: his “little black book.” From the July 22, 2019 New York Times: What’s Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Black Book? First discovered by the journalist Nick Bryant, Mr. Epstein’s little black book has resurfaced as part of the current investigation into the sex … Continue reading A History of the “Little Black Book”
Whenever I see stories like this, I cringe! As far as I can remember, I’ve only lost one notebook in my life, a rather cool one I was using in 7th grade that was probably stolen rather than lost. I never did find another one like it, and it’s haunted me ever since! So I … Continue reading Artist Loses Sketchbook
Some fascinating historic notebooks recording the first contact between British settlers and Aboriginal people in Australia: A set of 1788 notebooks recording the first attempts at communication between British settlers and Indigenous Australians reveals language that is still in use in Sydney Aboriginal communities today. The Dawes notebooks, named for First Fleet officer William Dawes … Continue reading The Dawes Notebooks
I’ve written before about French fashionista Ines de la Fressange and her love of notebooks. Now she’s selling notebooks of her own design: You can see additional designs at her online shop: Ines de la Fressange
Father Thomas Lawrason Riggs was the first Catholic chaplain at Yale. He was a member of Yale’s class of 1910, where he met Cole Porter, the composer. He later attended graduate school at Harvard, where he roomed with Porter and Dean Acheson, a future secretary of state. During World War I, Riggs returned to Yale … Continue reading Thomas Lawrason Riggs’s Notebook
I love the luscious colors and texture of these sketchbook pages! New York-based print designer and illustrator Sara Boccaccini Meadows has made it a habit to take her sketchbook everywhere she goes, taking inspiration from her everyday surroundings…. This artist also has a 35-minute online class to help you paint beautiful botanicals. Read more: Artist Shares … Continue reading Sara Boccaccini Meadows’ Sketchbooks
A gorgeous example of a natural historian’s field notes. This belonged to August F. Foerste, an American geologist and paleontologist. From the original article at the Field Book Project website: Field notes are well known to be essential, primary material that provide details about collections and expeditions that aren’t found in published material or specimen … Continue reading August F. Foerste’s Field Notebook
…or perhaps this post’s title should be “Sketching Skulpture,” because my inspiration comes from a blog post at Sketchbook Skool. The sketch below by Jonathan Twingley really caught my eye– such a cool mix of color, texture and light and dark shading with fine cross-hatching. It was done on location at MoMA, as part of … Continue reading Sketching Sculpture
I don’t remember where I first came across the work of André Mare. He was a French artist who was associated with the Cubism and Art Deco movements, and his World War I sketchbooks are quite remarkable. No discussion about Cubism can be complete without at least some mention of André Mare. Yet even in conversations … Continue reading André Mare’s Sketchbooks