I am a book lover, so these Manuscript Notebooks totally caught my eye. They’ve taken beautiful retro book cover art and used it for the covers of these softcover notebooks:
The notebooks are a single signature of pages, with stitched spine. The 3.5 x 5.5″ sizing is comparable to Field Notes, Moleskine Cahier and other similar styled notebooks. (Shown below with a pocket size hardcover Moleskine for comparison.)
Most of the samples I received have squared corners, but one is rounded. It looks like everything currently on their website is squared. I’m not sure if this would be an issue in terms of compatibility with the many covers that have been designed for this type of notebook– a square corner might be a little harder to slide in. At 64 pages, they are a little fatter than most Field Notes. The cover material feels sturdy and has a slight texture. A table of contents on the inside front cover is a nice touch. The back covers feature a quote from the book. I’d love to know more about the front cover images– what edition of the book, what publisher, what year, etc. to give a little historical context, but unfortunately that information isn’t provided.
The paper inside is an ivory shade, available unlined only. It feels thin and smooth, but not as smooth as Moleskine’s paper. Despite the slight texture of the paper, it doesn’t feel at all rough with fine pens. This is my first review with a broader arsenal of pens to test– you’ll see that I’ve added some fun new pens to the list, including some additional fountain pens. I’m glad I had the chance to do so, as Manuscript advertises their notebooks as fountain pen friendly. I would say that is mostly true. A couple of my wetter pens did feather a wee bit, but fine nibs work very nicely, without bleed-through. My Lamy Safari with Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts bled, as did a couple other markers. I’d say the paper is overall about average for bleed-through and show-through, but a little better than average for fountain pens. It’s not Tomoe River, but these aren’t as expensive as Tomoe River notebooks either.
At $11.00 for a 3-pack, these are a bit more expensive than a Field Notes 3-pack, but when you factor in the higher page count and the paper being better for fountain pens than at least the standard Field Notes paper, they are a good value.
Manuscript also sells hardcover pocket journals with an elastic closure, priced at $14.
You can buy these from Manuscript’s online shop. And you can also take a crack at winning a set of notebooks, thanks to Manuscript having generously provided me with extra samples. I will select 2 winners, each of whom will get a set of one large and one small softcover notebook.
The winners will be randomly selected from entries received in any or all of these ways:
On Twitter, tweet something containing “Manuscript Notebook @manuscriptshop @NotebookStoriesâ€, and follow @manuscriptshop and @NotebookStories
On Facebook, “likeâ€Â  the Notebook Stories page and post something containing the words “Manuscript Notebook†on the Notebook Stories page.
On your blog, post something containing the words “Manuscript Notebook†and “Notebook Stories†and link back to this post.
The deadline for entry is Friday December 1, 2017 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone!
And please remember to check my posts on Facebook and Twitter for an announcement of the winner. Please allow a couple of weeks for me to check all the entries and determine the winners.
