Tag Archives: 1980s

Vintage Succes Seven Star Diary

Most of my collection of vintage looseleaf notebooks is either basic black ring binders from the first half of the 20th century from makers like Marquette and Wilson Jones, or Filofax organizers from the 1980s and 1990s. I don’t have that many other brands, so I was happy to add this Succes organizer to my … Continue reading Vintage Succes Seven Star Diary

The History of the “Pocket Slim” Filofax: Part 1

In the introduction to this series of posts, I covered some background on Filofax’s rare pocket size offerings from the 1930s to 1970s. With all that history out of the way, let’s look at how the modern pocket size Filofax organizer was first introduced in the 1989 Filofax UK catalog. This year, the ultimate adaptability … Continue reading The History of the “Pocket Slim” Filofax: Part 1

Filofax Winchester from the Late 1980s

I was recently helping a friend with some decluttering, and you can imagine my joy when we unearthed this: This was her Filofax from around 1988 or so, which she used for many years until switching to a Palm Pilot. (The Palm Pilot didn’t last long– after letting the battery die and losing all her … Continue reading Filofax Winchester from the Late 1980s

Harvard Coop 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

JoRedCo Notebooks

While writing my recent posts about my collection of wirebound notebooks (see Part 1 and Part 2), I was looking for more information about the JoRedCo notebook brand. I have two in my collection, but hadn’t really heard much about the brand, other than a commenter having mentioned finding old stock for sale. Google provided … Continue reading JoRedCo Notebooks

Wire-O and Spiral Notebooks from My Collection, Part 2

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

Spiral and Wire-O Notebooks from My Collection, Part 1

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

Shoebox Tour: Filofax and Other Looseleaf Notebooks

Here’s another shoebox full of notebooks from my collection. This one has most of my Filofaxes and other refillable looseleaf notebooks. First, here’s the Filofaxes. I used 4 of these on a regular basis during the mid to late 1990s. (See Pocket Filofax, Early 1990s for details on the burgundy one.) These older ones all … Continue reading Shoebox Tour: Filofax and Other Looseleaf Notebooks

Mottled Pressboard Notebooks

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

Black Friday! Black Notebooks!

If you are sick of all the Black Friday deal ads, rest your eyes on this! (and then visit my Amazon store! The commissions I earn from your purchases help keep this site going!)