I love seeing artist’s notebooks, especially ones like this with notes about how the artist is working out an idea as opposed to just sketches. Below is a journal page by David Wojnarowicz, a controversial artist who died of AIDS in 1992. (If you want to learn more about him and the 1980s East Village … Continue reading David Wojnarowicz’s Journals
Here’s a few things I pulled out of one of my storage boxes, about half of which is filled with childhood notebooks from the late ’70s to mid-’80s. First, a small orange looseleaf notebook. I was probably in about 6th grade when I decided to devote it to Astronomy and colored the cover with a … Continue reading Random Notebooks from My Collection
Here’s a notebook that I liked so much, I had to buy three of them. I still love the concept of these: the look of a composition book in a different size. I’ve always loved the black and white patterned covers of the traditional composition book, but I have not usually wanted to use something … Continue reading Early 1980s “Comp” Pocket Memo Notebooks
This notebook is one of the gems of my collection because I’ve never seen anything else quite like it. I must have bought this in the early 80s, at one of the various five-and-ten stores in my area. It’s just a generic mass-produced notebook. But this cover just fascinates me! There is something so weird … Continue reading An Unusual 1980s Spiral Notebook
This seemed like an appropriate notebook for today: Actually, the contents of this notebook are anything but romantic. My mother gave it to me in 1981 and asked me to keep a diary while she was away for a couple of weeks, helping her sister with a newborn baby. I dutifully chronicled everything I did, … Continue reading Happy Valentine’s Day!
Here’s an oldie but goodie, which I used during my freshman year of college: It was made by the Vernon McMillan company, based in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The “Memo Book” typography is pretty cool… and check out that snazzy, wave-like VM logo! I love the mottled orange cover– I don’t know if there’s a name … Continue reading Mid-1980s Vernon McMillan Notebook
Another notebook that was probably manufactured in the late 1970s to early 1980s: a slim lined memorandum book by the Northern Central Co. of Milwaukee. The cover has a textured fake-leather look, but it’s just glossy card stock, stamped in gold foil. Dig that cool logo on the front! I didn’t use very many pages … Continue reading Memorandum Book Made by Northern Central Co., Milwaukee
Here’s a gem from the late ’70s/early ’80s. I love the simple cover design with the 25 cent price at the bottom. I wonder what ever happened to the Eastern Tablet company of Albany, NY. When you google it, not much comes up other than the obituaries of people who worked there at one time. … Continue reading Paper King Memo Book, late 1970s or early 1980s
Here’s a few blank books from my childhood: Remember those Nothing Books? They were all the rage for a while. They sold them at a local bookstore and they became quite a fad at my school– kids mainly used them for autograph books, I think, where you’d just have your friends sign a page and … Continue reading 1980s Notebooks from My Collection