Last week, I tried to mystify you all with a teaser about my favorite new notebook. I thought I might have to give some more hints, but someone did guess the brand. As a reminder, here’s the clues I gave:

It has a clothbound hard cover, in a light blue color. The corners are rounded.

It is 3.5 x 5.5″ and about 5/8″ thick.

There is no ribbon marker, elastic closure, or back pocket.

It has a bit of cover overhang– more than I prefer (because I prefer the page edges to come as close as possible to the cover edges) but not the worst I’ve seen. The overhang seems bigger on the edge where the book opens because the spine is rounded and the page edges are concave following the spine curve, rather than trimmed to a straight edge. There are 12 sewn signatures, and the notebook opens quite flat.

The only branding on the notebook is a debossed logo on the inside back cover. As packaged in the store, it is shrinkwrapped, with some brand info on a vellum band, and a small brochure tucked inside.

The version I bought has 192 pages of a 90 GSM cream-colored dot-grid paper with a slight tooth to it, which does not bleed or feather with fountain pens. Up close, the paper has visible laid lines, giving it an almost ribbed texture. Fountain pen ink looks great on this paper, though the tooth gives some feedback and can make fine nibs feel a little scratchy compared to writing on something super smooth.

The notebook is said to be handmade made in Europe. (If everyone’s stumped, maybe I’ll tell you which country to narrow it down a bit.)

I have not seen the exact version I bought for sale anywhere except for a couple of online retailers (where it was misleadingly described as having a “flex” or softcover.) I have seen a slightly shorter and thicker 3.5 x 5″, 240p version for sale in at least one other physical store in NYC, with lined and plain pages. Several cover colors were available. A larger A5 size was also available, and is currently listed on Amazon. The 3.5 x 5″ version is what is shown on the manufacturer’s website, though the images seem to show it with squared corners.

I have one other notebook from this brand in my collection. I bought it on a trip.

I really love the one I bought– the size is perfect, the quality is great and the simplicity of it is very alluring. It’s not my perfect grail notebook but I can’t help playing with it a lot and doodling in it with fountain pens.

Commenters guessed that it might be Shinola, Fabriano EcoQua, Leuchtturm, or Bindewerk. The anonymous commenter who guessed Bindewerk was correct!

The only other Bindewerk notebook I’ve bought was one with a wooden cover, as featured in this post.

The wooden one is nice, but it didn’t excite me all that much. The Bindewerk notebooks that I’ve most frequently seen in stores have metal edges on the covers. I guess that makes the edges more durable, but every time I see them, I think, gah! Ugly!

Aren’t these so much cuter?

As you’ll see, I’ve already bought a few more of these lovely notebooks– basically one in every color!
Yeah, I’m definitely crushing hard…

I ordered some with plain pages from Papersmiths in London, and some with dot-grid pages from the US distributor for Bindewerk, OrangeArt. The first one I bought was from the shop at the Frick Collection in NYC, where they had this and a larger size in blue and pink. Here’s the larger version on Amazon: Bindewerk Linen Flexible Cover Travel Notebook A5.

The smaller 3.5 x 5″ version with 240 pages is sold at Paper Presentation on 18th St. in NYC, and seems to also be for sale on Bindewerk’s website. (Bindewerk’s website does not list the 3.5 x 5.5″ linen notebook I bought, which has me worrying that they’ve already discontinued it!) From the photos there, it looks like it has a slightly different construction with a square spine and corners, though I could have sworn the ones I saw at Paper Presentation had the same rounded spine and corners as what I bought. In any case, I wouldn’t want that smaller version myself. You would think a 1/2 inch difference in height is no big deal but my personal preference is that 3.5 x 5.5″ is just the right proportions– at 3.5 x 6″, Leuchtturm is too tall, and the other 3.5 x 5″ Bindewerk notebooks were too short. Call me Goldilocks.

As I noted in my original post, I find it odd that they call this a “flexible cover” notebook. Yes, it does flex a bit if you really try, but no more than a hardcover Moleskine does, or most other hardcover notebooks. And if you can find these in a brick and mortar shop, I recommend buying them that way– though I am overall very pleased with the quality of these notebooks, there are some small variations in the bindings with some being a bit looser than others on the ones I bought online. I always prefer to inspect a notebook closely before buying, to get one that is as close as possible to perfect.

Here’s some more photos of mine:

In case you’re wondering why most of the bands say “Arne Katzbichler” on them, he is the Managing Director of Bindewerk. I’ve never seen an executive or owner’s name on a notebook label like that, but I guess it means you stand by your product!

Some comparison shots vs. a pocket size Moleskine:

But what you really need to see are the pen tests.  I have to say I was shocked at how little bleed-through there was on paper that feels this thin, even after I’d been playing around with fountain pens for a while with great results. The Super Sharpie usually obliterates anything in its path, but it bled very little. It seemed like the marker itself might be drying out a wee bit so I added an extra scribble just to be sure! The Accu-Liner is another very bleed-y marker but did better than usual here, other than the fairly dark dot showing through from being left in one spot for 5 seconds. On the other end of the spectrum, I almost didn’t want to try my Marvy Technical Drawing Pen on this paper because the tip is so extremely fine, I worried it would be too delicate for a paper with this texture. But it actually felt great, somehow having less of that slight draggy feeling that I got with the fine gel ink pens.

For the fountain pens, I’ve added a comparison shot to a page in my Hobonichi Techo so you can see how the same ink/pen combos work on the different paper textures and colors. The colors have a bit of a warmer glow on the Bindewerk paper. There is no feathering, but due to the tooth of the paper, the edges of the lines are a bit more jagged vs. the smooth hard edges you get on the Hobonichi paper.

I also tried some watercolors to see how they’d work– the paper really isn’t meant to handle wet media, and it crinkles up quite a bit with heavy washes, but smaller touches of watercolors seem fine.

The only problem with these Bindewerk Linen Notebooks is that they are expensive. I paid $20 for the pocket size at the Frick, and they are $19 each plus shipping from OrangeArt. The UK price from Papersmiths worked out to slightly more than $20 each, including shipping.

If you must have a ribbon marker, elastic closure or back pocket, this may not be the right notebook for you. And if you love super-smooth paper and can’t stand a little texture, this may not be the right notebook for you. I always thought those were my preferences but this time I’m making an exception. I am going to use my light blue Bindewerk notebook as a daily journal as soon as I finish my current notebook. I’m excited to see how it will handle daily use and suspect this will become one of my favorite notebooks.

I hope Bindewerk keeps making these in this exact size and that more stores start carrying them– the colors and the aesthetics overall are so lovely, I really am surprised I haven’t seen them for sale in more retail locations. Maybe I’m just going to the wrong stores? Or maybe retailers think they are a bit too pricy and not different enough from other popular brands they already carry such as Leuchtturm and Moleskine and Rhodia? In my opinion, the paper and the beautiful cloth covers really make the Bindewerk Linen Notebook a standout product.

I have not received any sponsorship or compensation for this post– all opinions are my own.