Another recent NY Times spotting: Tom Verlaine Was a Mystery. His Archives Reveal More of His Story. I spy an Eastern Tablet Paper King composition book (small Paper King spiral notebooks were my favorites when I was a kid), and a small Pen-Tab spiral notebook (with yellow and black tape covering most of the spiral), … Continue reading Tom Verlaine’s Notebooks
Another reader has gotten in touch with a burning question, something I hadn’t really thought about much. Stephen asks: What are the optimal use cases for a notepad, as opposed to a notebook? I use Rhodia A4 and A5 Bloc pads all the time at my desk, ruled with that great ivory FP-friendly paper; and … Continue reading How to Use a Notepad
I have saved almost all the pocket size notebooks I’ve used in my life, except for the very earliest ones. I was drawn to small diaries and notebooks before I could even write, and the very first ones I remember using were Hallmark promotional diaries given away at the local drugstore– but I don’t have … Continue reading Hallmark Diaries from the 1970s
In my post about Denbigh notebooks, I linked to a site that had a photo of a Denbigh notebook from the 1960s: Drew Family Diaries. These diaries are worth a post of their own! Roger Drew created a website to share this amazing collection of diaries kept by members of his family, starting with his … Continue reading The Drew Family Diaries
These Harvard Coop diaries mark the beginnings of my serious obsession with little black notebooks. I started using them at around the age of 9. Before that, I’d had some 3 x 5″ spiral notebooks, and I liked to get the little Hallmark month-to-a-page planners that drugstores would give out for free, but I barely … Continue reading Harvard Coop Diaries
Continuing with Part 2 of my exploration of spiral notebooks and wire-o notebooks from my collection! As in Part 1, all of these are 3 x 5″ notebooks unless otherwise noted, and mostly from the 1980s. The Roaring Spring notebooks seem very classic and looked a little retro even in the ’80s. I loved those … Continue reading Wire-O and Spiral Notebooks from My Collection, Part 2
Some of my earliest notebook obsessions were spiral and wire-o binding notebooks. Back when I was a kid, other kinds of notebook were not as easy to find, or were prohibitively expensive for a kid to buy with her allowance. Nowadays, I rarely find myself using a wire bound notebook, but I thought I’d take … Continue reading Spiral and Wire-O Notebooks from My Collection, Part 1
Only the biggest stationery geek in the world goes around saying things like “I LOVE MOTTLED PRESSBOARD!” Only the biggest stationery geeks probably even know what it is… in fact, I myself didn’t know what it was until just recently. Or rather, I knew what it was but I didn’t know what it was called. … Continue reading Mottled Pressboard Notebooks
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Fabulous page from the diary of artist Duncan Hannah, as featured in the Paris Review: Source: Diaries, 1970–73 In a separate article, the Paris Review also featured this photo of all Hannah’s diaries: Source: Duncan Hannah’s New York Found via Austin Kleon’s Inspiring Diaries
