Here’s another wonderful notebook from the past. It belonged to James Haden (1790 – 1871), a member of a family engineering firm in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. James was “the partner in the firm who travelled the country erecting, supervising and taking orders for the installation of warm air heating & ventilating stoves and expanding the … Continue reading An Engineer’s Notebook, c.1830
Sometimes I think architects have the best notebooks. This one, from architect Lebbeus Woods, is certainly a great example: In the architect’s own words: For a period of ten years, a part of my practice was carried on in a space of ten by fifteen by two centimeters—one might call it an extreme space. Beginning … Continue reading Lebbeus Woods’ Notebook
Melinda says: I’ve been journaling since 1992. I began during the summer between my 7th or 8th grade year. I remember that I had a diary even before that, but it was the kind little girls have, with a lock and keepsake box. Someone read it and that was the end of that diary. I … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week
Here’s a notebook which evokes bittersweet memories for me… When I was a kid, it seemed like this sort of diary was a common promotional giveaway. Is it just me, or do companies never do this any more? Now it’s all logo pens and flashlights and foam squeeze balls, although logo-embossed notebooks are making a … Continue reading Sandoz Pharmaceutical Diary, 1970s
The other day, I noticed someone using one of these Penguin journals, which I’d previously posted about: I was all excited, as I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere and all the online sources for buying them are based in the UK and it would cost a fortune to get one. While searching, I also … Continue reading Penguin Notebook Spotting!
In yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, there was a photo essay called “Obama’s People,” with portraits of the President-elect’s various cabinet members and staff. I couldn’t help noticing that a few of them were photographed with their notebooks! Here’s Eugene Kang, 24, Special Assistant to the President. His notebook is the highlight of the photo! … Continue reading Obama’s People’s Notebooks
I did my own comparison of a few sketchbooks including the HandBook and Moleskine. I use both brands regularly and like them both very much, for different reasons. But here’s a review from someone who HATES the HandBook! I’d had some issues with coloring the pages, since they don’t lie as flat as the Moleskine … Continue reading HandBook vs. Moleskine
I love finding articles where people from all walks of life talk about using notebooks. It’s way too easy to find writers talking about using notebooks– that gets really boring after a while, so I was happy to come across this article, an interview with Lowell Cohn of the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, CA, … Continue reading Mike Singletary On Using Notebooks
A WikiHow page on “How to Keep a Notebook:” Step 1: Decide the purpose for your notebook. Will you write down your inventions? Will you write ideas for the screenplay, novel, poems you will someday write? Will you write down thoughts and ideas related to a particular project? Or do you simply want to have … Continue reading How To Keep a Notebook
I was in a store recently where a book called The Wednesday Sisters was a staff pick. I was struck by the cover image, which features a diary and a fountain pen. There is always something so nice about the look of handwritten words on a page…