Links, Other People's Notebooks, record-keeping, Scientific, Sketchbook

An Engineer’s Notebook, c.1830

1 Comment

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 firms business. His travels took him the length and breadth of the British Isles and his notebook shows visits to counties as far apart as Kent and Invernesshire.”

From the company history:

One of James’ notebooks has survived, which covers the years 1829 – 1832. It gives an interesting insight into his travels and varied engineering interests. This notebook accompanied him on his various site visits to take details about the buildings he was to survey.

The notebook has a strange mixture of information in it ranging from firstly, quite detailed dimensioned survey sketches that he drew, complete with the calculations necessary to establish the size and number of warm air stoves required to heat the premises. Other pages give various scientific technical notes on,

* how to make a thermometer;
* the theory of latent heat and how this can explain the cooling of champagne;
* the theory of the hydraulic ram;
* how to make a spirit level;
* the composition of air;
* an explanation about stuttering and stammering;
* article copied from Gardening Magazine about Perkins HPHW heating system.

He also mentions items relating to botany.

I would love to see more pages from this notebook!

new products, Piccadilly

Piccadilly Squared Notebooks Coming in April

5 Comments

One of the frequent comments on Piccadilly’s Moleskine-like notebooks has been that people wish there was a version with graph/ squared paper. Well, wish no more! According to the Piccadilly website, they’ll have them in April! The question, though, is whether any retailers will have them. Black Cover’s review mentioned that a gridded version was available, but I’ve never heard of them being in stores. The Borders stores I’ve been to have only sold the lined and plain versions…

Journal, Writing Notebooks

A Victorian Journal Full of Dark Thoughts

Leave a comment

From Affinity, by Sarah Waters, a dark and moody novel of psychological suspense set in the Victorian era:

I saw her looking at the pictures I have pinned at the side of my desk, and then at this book. I had closed the covers, but had my pen between the pages to keep the place. “What’s that?” she said. “What are you writing there?” She said it was unhealthy to sit at a journal so long; that it would throw me back upon my own dark thoughts and weary me.

Nowadays I suppose most people see journaling as therapeutic, rather than something unhealthy that throws them back upon their dark thoughts!

Links, Moleskine, new products, Places to Buy Notebooks

More New Moleskine Products for Spring 2009

Leave a comment

I’m not sure if these are only available in the UK, but at SimplyMoleskine.com, they’re offering Volant notebooks in two new colors, and Volant Address Books:

New in February 2009: Volant Address Books in 3 sizes and 4 colours.
The new Volant Address Books have ruled pages with laminated alphabetical tabs, created to be light and handy. Available in extra small, pocket and large sizes.

[UPDATED: I just saw an announcement about these new products for the US on Moleskine.com]

creativity, Field Notes, Links, Moleskine, new products, Places to Buy Notebooks

When Plain Covers Just Won’t Cut It

Leave a comment

The blog Dooce recently featured a variety of colorful notebooks, perfect for those who prefer more whimsical designs:

1. Flocked Jasmine Journal Set See Jane Work $10

2. Dried Umbel Mini Notebook Jengs Shop $7.50

3. Notebook & Pencil A Plus R Store $18

4. Doughnuts Architectural Journal Edesse Designs $12

5. Do Work Gocco Printed Notebook Two Guitars $8

6. Field Notes Three-Pack Coudal Partners $9.95

7. Orla Kiely Petal Pebble Journal Anthropologie $16

8. Basset Hound Secret Journal SecretMe $12

9. House pocket jotter Dozi $12

10. Notebook with chairs Cricicis Design $8

Links, Other People's Notebooks, Sketchbook

Lebbeus Woods’ Notebook

Leave a comment

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 in 1991, I was traveling very much—lecturing, teaching, and working on the occasional project—and not often near my drawing board. As a way of coping with being on airplanes, trains, living in hotel rooms, cafes, and bars, I began to keep notebooks in which I could draw and write while on the move. This was very important to me, as my thoughts were alive with new ideas that could not be put on hold. So the pages of the notebooks became a studio I could keep in my pocket, unfolding its nearly limitless space whenever I needed….
Notebooks are portable. They can be kept secret, or published. Technically, they are simple to make. Pen and paper. The hand, eye, and thought. Freed from any sort of burdensome apparatus, thought becomes more agile in confronting itself.

Clairefontaine, Maruman, Miquelrius, My Collection

Notebooks in My Office

2 Comments

I have a few notebooks stashed in my desk drawer. These have traveled with me through 3 job changes, but I’ve only used any of them actively for brief periods.

The first one is this 4″ x 5 3/4″ Cahier de Toilex made in Japan by Maruman. It’s not my ideal size, but I love the tight double wire binding, and the cover has a simulated canvas texture. The brand info is actually a stuck-on label, not just printed on the cover. The paper inside is lined and quite smooth. I bought this beauty in San Francisco, I think, in the mid-1990s. I used about 1/4 of the pages for work-related jottings.

The next one is a bit of a mystery. This chunky, flexible notebook measures about 4 1/8″ x 5 3/4″. It’s similar to some Miquelrius notebooks I’ve seen, but there is no brand or country of origin marked anywhere on the notebook itself. The paper inside is unlined. I used about 12 pages of it for some sketches during a beach trip about 10 years ago, but never used it for work notes. I have no memory of where I bought it.

Here’s a notebook that could have some future re-use potential. The leather cover is actually a Coach passport holder– I love the feel of the leather and I’m thinking I may just convert it back to its original purpose. (When I bought this, I didn’t even have a passport.) Inside is a Clairfontaine notebook, a small staple-bound one with lined paper. I had to cut the covers slightly to make them slide into the passport holder, but the pages were a perfect fit! It’s actually a great little notebook– a few pages were torn out, and a few others have notes on them, but otherwise I don’t seem to have used this much at all. I don’t know why!

Finally, I have a very basic little looseleaf notebook, probably bought in an office supply store in mid-town Manhattan near where I used to work. I tried to use it as a sort of budget Filofax, adding a clear plastic pocket and some post-it notes mounted on the inside back pocket. I guess I gave up on using it and moved any paper in it to some other Filofax– all that’s left is a couple small notes, a few old business cards from 3 jobs ago, and a stamp.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with these– probably stick them back in my desk drawer for another few years!

Moleskine, Places to Buy Notebooks

Score! 50-cent Moleskines!

5 Comments

The other day, I stumbled across an online retailer offering a few styles of Moleskines at low prices, including the Moleskine Pocket Squared notebooks for only about 50 cents each– even once shipping was added in, this was too good a bargain to pass up, so I ordered 5, for a total of $17.15 including shipping– that’s $3.43 each, for those too lazy to do the math! I almost bought 10, and despite my backlog of notebooks waiting to be used, I now wish I had bought 20: the retailer must have realized they made a mistake and the prices are now a lot higher. They’re still quite good, though– $4-6 for various styles, which would probably get up to about $7-10 including shipping. At that price I don’t think I would have bought any right now– not as many, anyway. I guess I have a certain tipping point for stocking up on bargain priced notebooks!

The notebooks that arrived must have been made a few years ago when Kikkerland still distributed Moleskines. Four of them are packaged with some promotional postcards and stickers with quotes about writing. The wrappers on the notebooks don’t say “Made in China” anywhere on them, so perhaps these are the early Italy-made ones with the supposedly nicer paper? (I’ve never noticed a difference myself.)

Though they must have been sold off in some kind of remainder deal, they are not marked in any way and seem to be first quality merchandise, except for a dent in the spine of one notebook. The dent may have happened in my mailbox, though– they were packed in a padded envelope, tightly wrapped, and it just barely fit in the box, but that was fine with me, as I hate having to go and pick things up at the postoffice!

If you like the price and want to try to snag some of these, they are being sold through Bookbrothers  via Amazon too.

Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, diaries: in search of the perfect page…