A year ago, I had just embarked on my epic cross-country road trip, so this season’s Field Notes special edition struck a chord and makes me want to hit the highway all over again!
This edition even comes with a map of the US interstate highway system (free if you’re an annual subscriber, otherwise a separate purchase). More details at the Field Notes website.
There is currently an art exhibition on view in Australia featuring a work called “Chinese Bible” by Yang Zhichao. It is a “monumental installation of 3000 notebooks and diaries inscribed between 1949 and 1999. These small books were collected by the artist from Beijing markets from 2005 to 2008 and ritually washed before presentation. Once owned by people of all ages and backgrounds, they reveal handwritten notes ranging from the experience of falling in love to the ideological slogans of the Cultural Revolution.”
A view of the installation is below, and in the video you can see more about the project.
You can also see the covers and scanned pages of all the notebooks on the website of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. (I couldn’t help wondering if I would spot one that looked like the 1980 Chinese Diary from my own collection!)
See more at: Scanned notebooks :: Chinese bible :: Art Gallery NSW
It’s the perfect time of year for this article from Delaware’s Cape Gazette about a workshop on garden journaling:
Kelly Sverduk, a teacher and an artist, says “I used to only keep nice sketchbooks when I went on a trip somewhere, but eventually I realized that I wanted to treat my day-to-day life with the same level of appreciation.â€Â The process of studying a plant or object and carefully re-creating it feels especially therapeutic in our fast-paced world, she says.Â
This type of journal usually incorporates text as well as pictures or sometimes bits and pieces, like a scrapbook, such as seed packets or pressed plant material. Whether the content is observations on temperature, bloom time, seed types, or planting notes for next year – or more personal reflections on your own life, remember that your journal or sketchbook is for you.Â
Read more: Get started with a garden journal
I discovered the Printfresh brand when I was doing my Christmas shopping several months ago. I was in a lovely gift shop in Mt. Kisco, NY called Porch, and among their many nice things, I saw a beautiful chunky journal with a velvet cover. My usual tastes in notebooks tend to run towards minimal designs, but this one was an eye-catching exception. I contacted the manufacturer and they were kind enough to send me not only a sample of the velvet notebook, but a big box of other products for me to review and share with some lucky winners!
The Velvet journal has a beautiful indigo tie-dye pattern. This one is called Shibori Stripe, inspired by Japanese textiles. This small size measures about 4 x 6″, but it’s quite thick so will fit better in a bag than a pocket. There is a pretty big cover overhang but it kind of goes with the thickness and square corners.
When you open the journal, the binding feels quite stiff. This would be the main downside to this notebook– it is difficult to open flat due to the square spine. Repeated flexing helps, but I did worry the spine would break or tear. Inside, the endpapers are made of a lovely paper with bits of flowers throughout. There is a ribbon marker (an unusual metallic braid with a knot at the end) but no back pocket.
The 360 pages are lined, with the lines ending within the page, and larger margins at the top and bottom. The paper feels smooth and medium weight. I expected it to have a lot of bleed-through, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it actually performs quite well with most fountain pens. A few were a bit feathery, but there was almost no bleed-through.
Overall, this journal is lovely and will please most fountain pen users except for the difficulty in opening the pages flat. The list price for this small journal is $20, which is a little on the high side but it really is a beautiful, gifty object. Various designs are available on Amazon for $18.
The larger version of the leather sketchbooks made me say “Wow.” At 8.75×12.25″, it is a generously sized and substantial book, and I’ve never encountered a marbleized painted leather cover like this. The cover is really beautiful. There is a line of stitching on the back cover, perhaps just because it is easier for them to use two separate pieces of leather to bind such a large sketchbook– the smaller leather journals don’t have the stitching (I didn’t unwrap or test the smaller journal).
When you open it up, you are greeted by beautiful endpapers too, as well as a black ribbon marker (but no back pocket).
The paper inside is a creamy white, fairly smooth. The weight is not specified but it is not very thick. Here again fountain pens work fairly well with no bleedthrough but some feathering. I did not test watercolor paints but this paper is probably better for dry media.
At $38, this is more expensive than a hardcover sketchbook from Stillman & Birn or Moleskine, but those brands don’t have the luxurious leather cover. Many leather covered sketchbooks in this size are at least this price or more. Again, this sketchbook from PrintFresh offers a distinctive and gifty package that sets it apart. Available for purchase on Amazon.
I love wire-o bindings for work notebooks, where I want to have the option of folding the cover back. These have a fun pattern on the cover, stamped in gold to match the wire. The pages within are lined and perforated for easy removal. I did not do pen tests on the wire-o notebook. The list price of this notebook is $13. Similar designs are available on Amazon.
Printfresh notebooks are indeed fresh! Their designs are lovely and make these journals and sketchbooks special gifts for notebook collectors who already have all the run of the mill brands, or for anyone whose creativity is inspired by a colorful, attractive design. Be sure to check out the Printfresh website for their full line of products.
Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Printfresh, I have quite a few samples to give away to some lucky readers!
Five winners will each get one Printfresh notebook. Please note that prizes can be mailed to US addresses only. Winners will be randomly selected from entries received in any of these ways:
On Twitter, tweet something containing “Printfresh Notebook @NotebookStoriesâ€, and follow @NotebookStories .
On Facebook, “like†the Notebook Stories page and the Printfresh page, and post something containing the words “Printfresh Notebook†on the Notebook Stories page.
On your blog, post something containing the words “Printfresh Notebook†and “Notebook Stories†and link back to this post, also leaving a comment below with the link in case the trackback doesn’t work.
On Instagram, follow @Notebook.Stories and @Printfresh, and comment on my Printfresh post, tagging a friend and adding a hashtag of your favorite adjective describing the Printfresh notebook, journal or sketchbook. (Example: “@myfriendsally #velvetcoverâ€)
The deadline for entry is Friday March 29, 2019 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone!
I received free samples to review but no other compensation. All opinions are my own.
I found this week’s addict on Instagram. Ironbark Journals is an Etsy seller of hand-stitched travelers notebook covers, but the photo below is her personal collection.
So. Much. Leather.
What a mess the whole Brexit thing is… but I have to admit reading this headline made me feel a little excited.
“WHSMITH IS STOCKPILING NOTEBOOKS, DIARIES AND PENS FOR NO-DEAL BREXIT”
The retailer has reportedly said it would hold a six month supply of stationery that it imports from Asia, rather than three-to-four months worth in case of delays at ports, the Times reported.
Source: WHSmith is stockpiling notebooks, diaries and pens for no-deal Brexit
Here’s a few interesting links you may enjoy:
For Sale: A POW Journal Documenting World War II’s ‘Great Escape’ from Atlas Obscura (Thanks to Mark for the tip!)
THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD War II’s most iconic prisoner-of-war escape is less than two weeks away, on March 24, 2019. Just in time, Hansons Auctioneers in England is offering a rare relic of the daring feat: a diary that takes us inside the mind of one of the prisoners who planned it.
My Sketchbooks in a Stranger’s Hands from The NY Times (also submitted as a tip from reader Shanta, thanks!)
I was at work when I received a very strange text message. “Hi Sarah, my name is Will and I work for a company that sorts through donated and discarded books and came across a stack of your lovely notebooks. I am not sure if you would be interested in having them returned, but I at least would like to inquire about the pecan pie.â€
The message was followed by a picture of the interior of a Moleskine sketchbook of mine. The first page of a Moleskine has a place for you to write your name, address, phone number and a designated reward “in case of loss.†I have about two dozen Moleskines from the past 13 years, and in them I have offered various rewards — a painting, $20 plus a painting plus a kiss, a hot-air balloon and, in this particular book, a pecan pie.
Treasures to Be Un-Hidden at New York Public Library from the NY Times
It is an almost incomprehensible number: 46 million. That is how many items the New York Public Library says it has in its collection, and not all of them are books….
Starting next year, many of these items will be displayed in a new gallery at the library. I’d like to see this one:
The gallery will have Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s notebook. Amid drafts of poems is a page with a sketch of her dog Flush.
Field Trip: Wonder Pens Studio Shop from Gourmet Pens
Friday Five with Norio Fujikawa from Design Milk
Kokuyo Buncobon Dot Cover Notebook Review from The Pen Addict
Brush Pen Review: Pentel Ultra Fine Artist Brush Sign Pen from The Well-Appointed Desk
The Clark Art Institute is a lovely museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts, well worth a trip, especially in summertime. I visited there last summer when there happened to be an exhibit about women artists in Paris in the late 1800s. There were quite a few interesting paintings but one in particular was my favorite, and luckily it turned out to be available on the cover of this notebook!
I often find myself disappointed by the selection of notebooks and journals in museum stores. They often aren’t that special– just a very generic cheap notepad with an artwork slapped on the cover. Sometimes they just don’t have the kind of notebook I want, which is generally a pocket size plain, squared or dot-grid notebook. Other museums have fabulous stationery selections, but they are just general interest notebooks rather than exhibition tie-ins. (The Centre Pompidou in Paris has a quite extensive papeterie, and the Frick Museum shop, while small and limited in its selection, is where I found my beloved Bindewerk Linen Journal.) Sometimes museum stores have the same stuff you can find elsewhere, but they charge a lot more just because the museum name is stamped on it.
So with all this in mind, I was very happy to find this souvenir of the women artists exhibit. The painting looks lovely on the cover, and the notebook itself is a perfectly sized staple-bound pocket notebook with unlined pages. The paper is nothing special, not fountain pen friendly, but for my likely usage that doesn’t matter. The little belly band seemed almost like overkill since it’s just a single notebook, but I suppose it does keep it from getting shop-worn. At $4.50, this notebook didn’t break the bank.
Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make me happy!
I’ve bought a couple of Oxford notebooks on my European travels, as they are much more prevalent in shops over there. Someday I’ll do a full review, but my quick take on these is that they are nice-looking pocket notebooks that feel well-constructed and have great paper, the same Optik white paper used in Black n’ Red notebooks I’ve reviewed. (Details on Oxford’s website.)
I hadn’t come across these for sale in the US until now, but I just noticed two Amazon listings that could be a great deal:
Based on the title saying “5 pcs,” both of these seem to be for 5-packs of A6 size Oxford Signature notebooks in assorted colors, with lined pages. The $57.79 price makes sense for a 5-pack, working out to $11 or so per notebook (including free shipping). You can probably get these for less at a shop in the UK or Europe but if you’re in the US, you might not be able to find them at all.
But the other listing is $19.13! If that price is really for a 5-pack, that is really a great deal at less than $4 per notebook (not counting shipping). There are other listings that seem to show prices of $20-30 for single A5 size notebooks, so it’s possible there is a typo somewhere. But I also noticed that the dimensions on both listings show measurements of 3.7 x 5.7 x 2.2 inches, which sounds like the right thickness for 5 notebooks, and a weight of 1.32 lbs, which also sounds appropriate for 5 notebooks.
I also discovered a listing for Oxford Office Essentials notebooks, which are slim, staple-bound notebooks that also have the Optik paper with 5mm grid lines, and the listing seems to be for a 10-pack for $28.30 plus shipping.
Oxford Notebook Essentials 100103545 10 9 x 14 cm Assorted Colours
I have not ordered these myself so I can not vouch for the accuracy of these listings. The prices cited are as of March 17, 2019, and could change at any time. Order at your own risk. But if anyone does order these, or has already, please let us know in the comments if you really did receive 5 notebooks!
This week’s addict is another Reddit find. You can see an inventory by brand in the comments on the original post. (A lot of Moleskine and Muji, as well as Fabriano and some others.) I love those two fabulously overstuffed ones on the top!
some of my notebooks! Most are unused.
