It looks like Joan Didion would qualify as a Notebook Addict of the Week— she left behind at least 38 blank notebooks when she died. Joan Didion’s notebooks are being sold as part of an auction of many of her belongings, including books, artwork, furniture, sunglasses and more.
I had no idea what sort of notebooks Joan Didion used– she’s been famously photographed with cigarettes and her Corvette, but I don’t recall ever seeing an image of her holding or using a notebook. But from the auction catalog, it looks like she used Clairefontaine, Moleskine, and some other brands I couldn’t identify. I think I spotted an Emilio Braga notebook in one photo, and some notebooks with blue page edges that could have been made by Alwych.
NY Times, Oct. 28, 2022
It will be interesting to see what Joan Didion’s notebooks end up selling for. On the one hand, they are just ordinary blank notebooks, to which “from the library of Joan Didion” bookplates have been affixed– in some cases the bookplate is just stuck on to the shrinkwrap of unopened notebooks. But on the other hand, people are obsessed with Joan Didion and some of her fans would apparently pay money for even a paper clip that she’d touched. And the website for the auction seems to be crashing a bit today, perhaps from an overload of interested shoppers! Can’t say I’m not tempted myself…
Read more about Joan Didion’s notebooks and the rest of the estate sale in this weekend’s New York Times: Joan Didion’s Life in Objects
Nicolas V. Sanchez does amazing drawings in sketchbooks, using ballpoint pens with stunning skill and delicacy. I love the section of his website where he presents a series of notebooks he’s filled with his incredibly vibrant drawings:
I found this week’s notebook addict via a blog post by our previous addict, Warren Ellis.
He linked to this Twitter thread , where screenwriter John Rogers talks about methods for notebook-keeping, and shared the photo below:
It accompanies his first principle of notebook-keeping:
First, a dedicated notebook for every project. This notenbook is creative — questions, rebreaks, notes from the room that require in-depth consideration, etc. This is the creative/thinking space.
In addition to the project notebooks, he has a notebook where he tracks “EVERYTHING,” across all projects. His system seems to have elements of Bullet Journaling and GTD, but he’s added and changed things to come up with his own workflow for his own unique needs. He’s obviously given it a lot of thought, as he also has a notebook dedicated to ideas about his workflow! A notebook for ideas about notebooks… now why didn’t I think of that?!
This looseleaf notebook was a recent eBay purchase. I bought it because it was a pocket size looseleaf from the 1950s, described as being 3×5″, and the brand name was unfamiliar. That was interesting enough to me, and the notebook wasn’t expensive, so I thought it would be nice to have it in my collection of very similar looseleaf notebooks from different brands/eras. But when I received the notebook in the mail, it was a surprise to see that it was actually quite different from any of my other refillable notebooks.
This is the smallest 6-ring pocket binder I’ve ever seen. (There are similarly sized Japanese binders like Plotter‘s Mini 5 size, but they only have 5 rings.) I thought my DaVinci binder was pretty small, but this is smaller. Though the ring spacing is standard, it’s the binder that is 3×5″ (actually more like 3 1/16 x 4 13/16″) not the paper, which is only 2 1/2 x 4 1/2″. I haven’t been able to find any listings for paper this size being sold today.
Wilson Jones looseleaf between pocket Moleskine and Nolty diary
It was made by Wilson-Jones, as you can see from the brand mark inside the cover, which shows the model #310-02. Inside, there are textured black end pages, then a 1958-1959 calendar page, and blue lined paper.
It looks like Wilson Jones still exists as a brand name, as part of the Acco conglomerate (which also owns Mead, Esselte, At-a-Glance, Derwent, Daytimer, Hilroy, Five-Star, Swingline and other office and craft supply brands). According to the company history on Acco’s website, Wilson-Jones was founded in 1893 and was the inventor of the three-ring binder. (This is disputed by a history of the company at the Made in Chicago Museum.)
A few pages of my notebook turned out to have been written on in pencil. The writing is a bit hard to read, but from what I can make out, the original owner of this notebook must have been a farmer, as there are references to a “John deer” seeder, grass seed, a pasture, oats, and a pig barn. Some of the notes are dated in the 1960s. Maybe there used to be more notes that were torn out before the notebook was sold, or else the farmer wasn’t very consistent about writing things down. The notebook does show signs of wear and tear from being used, but doesn’t seem as grubby and beaten up as you’d expect it to be if it had been in a farmer’s pocket all the time.
I’m glad I stumbled across this little notebook. I love vintage notebooks as an excuse to explore the history of the many independent office supply companies that are now long gone, and I’m always happy to have an unusual one in my collection.
You’d think a headline like “Marlon Brando’s Little Black Book” would have caught my eye, but I missed this article on Slate when it was published in 2013.
Marlon Brando dropped this battered address book on the stage of New York’s Barrymore Theatre while appearing in A Streetcar Named Desire in 1949.
The loss of the book must have been significant to the young actor. Brando scrawled on the flyleaf: “On bended knee I beg you to return this. I lost eight others already and if I lose this I’ll just drop dead!”
I’d love to see more of this little address book, or the eight others that Brando says he lost! It is part of the collection at the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin, which sounds like an amazing collection that must include a lot of other interesting notebooks.
Rick Barton was a somewhat obscure artist who lived in San Francisco in the late 1950s and early 1960s, often sketching in cafes or on the street. His work is now being rediscovered: incredibly detailed drawings, some of which were done on long fold-out scrolls of Japanese paper, bound into folding books so he could work on them while out and about.
The Morgan Library is one of my favorite museums for spotting notebook-related art and curiosities, so I’m hoping I’ll have a chance to see this exhibition before it closes on 9/11/22.
It’s that exciting season again, when next year’s planners are announced by Nolty. This year there are a few changes to their product line-up– a couple of discontinued versions of the diaries, and some new formats. Fans of B6 size planners will find some new products. There are also some new notebook/diary options where you can combine inserts into a cover.
I also noticed some new colors on the Nolty undated Daily Book that I don’t remember seeing before:
For me, the most exciting thing was the new international ordering process on the Nolty/JMAM website. It’s very easy to use, basically a built-in proxy service that pops up on each page as you are browsing. You can click the WorldShopping “add to cart” button and then check out with a credit card or PayPal. It is a two-step process: you are basically instructing WorldShopping to buy the product, which they then ship to their warehouse. At this point, you pay only for the product. You don’t know what the shipping cost will be, though they link to some tools that can help you estimate based on weight and size. (My shipping for two small notebooks ended up being around $34.00.) Once the product arrives at their warehouse, they send you a bill for the shipping and handling charges.
The good news is that the exchange rate between US dollars and the yen is pretty favorable right now. The shipping charge from Japan isn’t cheap, but I ordered just 2 Nolty 2023 diaries (my beloved Nolty Gold, and the Efficiency Notebook #1221, same as my Nolty 2022 purchases) and once I had paid for the product and shipping, I compared the price to what Kinokuniya was charging for these items. I saved over $10, since Kinokuniya really marks up the prices even though they offer free shipping for orders over $50. If I’d been buying a larger number of diaries, the World Shopping order from Japan would probably be even more advantageous. (And if you’re just buying one inexpensive diary, Kinokuniya might be a better deal, as the shipping from Japan may cost more than the diary itself.)
I’m excited for my Nolty 2023 diaries to arrive, even though they’re the same exact ones I’m using this year, and it will be months before I start using the 2023 models. I’ve gotten so addicted to these little planners, I’m just happy I know I can stick to my routine for another year!
This week’s addict is a writer of graphic novels and creator of the Netflix series Castlevania, among other creative ventures. On his website, he talks about his shift away from digital tools to capturing all this thoughts in notebooks like these:
I almost exclusively think on paper these days. The first page of each notebook is used for a numbered index. When I’m jotting down something I know I’m going to want to refer to later, I assign it a number on the index page and write the same number on the top right hand corner of the piece I’m referencing. I write in it pretty much every day. It serves as work book, commonplace book, personal journal, anything I want to be. The numbering on the spines is done with a Pentel white-out pen.
You can read more at about Warren’s notebook habits at this post and others on his website.
I’m continuing to make my way through my backlog of notebooks to review! I ordered this Talens Art Creation Sketchbook from Blick in January 2021 after seeing a few mentions of them online. The prices at Blick start at $7.25 for this pocket sized sketchbook, less than half what many competing brands are charging these days! Can it possibly deliver good quality? Let’s take a look…
When I first unwrapped the Talens Art Creation Sketchbook, I was disappointed. Big, wide overhang, which I hate! The exterior of the sketchbook is 3.5 x 5.5″ but the paper inside is more like 3 5/16 x 5 5/16″. But otherwise, I like the feel of the cover and the chunkiness of the notebook, which is just under 3/4″, noticeably fatter than a Moleskine and more like a Handbook Journal.
Talens on left, Moleskine on rightTalens on top, Moleskine belowTalens above, Moleskine below
Herisa on left, Talens on rightTalens above, Herisa below
The features are pretty typical– black faux-leather hardcover, with a ribbon marker and elastic closure, but there is no back pocket. The only branding after you remove the paper band is the stamped logo on the lower back cover.
The Talens Art Creation Sketchbook is bound with 20 sewn signatures that have been lightly and carefully glued at the spine. They open nice and flat so you can work across a page spread without too much trouble. There are 80 sheets/160 pages of cream-colored 140 GSM paper. Moleskine pocket sketchbooks are 40 sheets/80 pages.
The Talens paper is not quite as stiff as the card-stock pages of a Moleskine sketchbook (at least the old ones), and the color is much lighter when you compare it to the yellowish tone of the Moleskine paper. It seems somewhat similar to the paper found in the Art AlternativesPen & Ink sketchbook (the heavyweight paper version). The paper also isn’t as smooth as Moleskine’s, but depending on your preferred drawing tools, this is probably a good thing.
Talens in back, Moleskine in front
The problem with Moleskine sketchbook paper was always that it could be a bit TOO smooth to work with certain types of pens and watercolors, leading to colors beading up. Happily, the Talens sketchbook doesn’t have this problem! Fountain pens write very nicely on it, with no bleed-through except in a couple small spots where I was applying some pressure to flex a nib and lines overlapped. There was only a tiny bit of feathering with one or two pens. There was hardly any show-through.
The paper also held up nicely to watercolor and markers. This is really nice, versatile paper that will please anyone who wants to keep an illustrated journal or do a lot of mixed-media sketching.
The left-hand page below is the back of the watercolor/marker test page shown above.
This is a nicely constructed, good quality sketchbook with great paper and it’s only $7.25*! What’s not to love? That overhang. But if you don’t care about overhang, go buy one! They come in other sizes and colors too, at Blick or Amazon. Whether you use it as a sketchbook or just a notebook, it’s a great addition to the list of Moleskine alternatives.
*Prices may vary at different times and different retailers. As of this writing, the pocket size sketchbook is $7.25 at Blick, and as low as $5.45+ shipping at Amazon.
I can’t believe I bought this Herisa notebook on Amazon in July 2020 and am only now getting around to reviewing it! Such is life these days… but let’s take a long overdue look at this notebook.
I would guess that the Herisa notebook is kind of a generic item, perhaps marketed under a variety of brand names on Amazon. It seems to be a pretty typical practice for Chinese manufacturers to offer the same product under multiple brand names and see which one sells best. I’ve definitely seen other notebooks on Amazon that seem quite similar, though most of them seem to be available only in lined format. (See Vanpad, Aisbugur, ZZXT, Deziliao, Feela, LMTNNB, SULDAEFC, and many others.) I’ve also reviewed the very similar Taotree dot-grid notebook. But the Herisa came with unlined pages as an option, which is more rare.
The Herisa notebook has the typical Moleskine-clone characteristics: a black faux-leather cover, elastic closure, ribbon marker, expanding back pocket. It’s pleasantly chunky with a slightly padded cover that reminds me of the Pen & Ink sketchbook or the Scribe notebook I reviewed ages ago. The extras offered by the Herisa notebook are that you get a pen loop (which is quite solidly glued in, but possible to remove by sliding an Xacto knife in carefully on either side of it), a second ribbon marker, and a tuck pocket inside the front cover.
Herisa notebook on left, compared to older Moleskine
There is no branding information anywhere on the notebook. The ribbon markers are brown, and there are matching head and foot bands, which as far as I can tell are just glued on for decoration rather than being part of the stitching of the signatures and spine. The construction of the notebook seems to be of good quality, with everything nice and square and even overhang on all sides. There is more cover overhang than I’d prefer, but it feels proportional to the rest of the notebook.
Inside, there are a few lines for your contact details, but otherwise, it is totally plain. The notebook opens nice and flat due to a very flexible spine. The paper is a slightly creamy, smooth white. It is said to be 100 GSM, and does feel a bit heavier than average. And it performs quite well!
I tried all my usual pens and found the paper to be better than average for show-through, and had almost no bleed-through. A couple of inks feathered a bit in spots, but even when applying some pressure to flex nibs for line width variation, the paper was generally great. I did find that on another page, I got a few spots of bleeding if I cross-hatched a bit, and using layers of markers will start to loosen the paper fibers and cause some bleeding. I wouldn’t be confident enough in this paper to use it as a sketchbook with a lot of wet media, but for everyday journaling and notes, it should be fine for almost any user. I would just be prepared to try a few different fountain pens and inks to see which ones work.
Bottom line: I haven’t tested the Herisa notebook’s durability in long-term day to day use, but it seems solid enough to hold up well and I think I would buy this notebook again. I didn’t like the pen loop, but it turned out to be easier to remove than it was on the Taotree, and less damaging since there is no stitching going through the cover. There are other things about it that make it less than perfect in relation to my personal preferences, but the value overall makes the Herisa notebook a good choice.
As noted above, I bought this notebook a couple of years ago (with my own money, and I am not receiving any compensation for doing this review). I paid $10.99 for a two-pack, which for this level of quality is a great deal. I figured this price couldn’t possibly be available 2 years later, and when I searched “Herisa Notebook,” at first I didn’t even find this brand. But it’s actually still there, and still available... but not at the same price. It’s now even cheaper, at $9.99! But… and this is a big “but,” the description doesn’t say “100 GSM” anywhere. It says “Weight 150g” but I think they mean the actual weight of the whole notebook, not the paper weight. If the price went down, I would guess they had to reduce the paper quality. But at $9.99 for a two-pack, I think it’s worth a try to see. Recent reviews on Amazon seem to be positive. For those who prefer a larger size, Herisa also sells a lined 5×8″ notebook in blue with 130 GSM paper, currently $6.99 for a two-pack! A black, pocket-sized lined version is also available, but they are much more expensive, at least right now.
