One of these days, I will use one of the Paperblanks notebooks I’ve been hoarding. I have a few of them that I’ve picked up over the years (usually during a once a year visit to a wonderful little bookshop in Lewes, Delaware called Biblion), and I’m always very impressed by their quality. I’m also shocked that I don’t see more buzz about them from the fountain pen community, as some of them have wonderful paper.
This Paperblanks notebook is the Solis Mini, from a series called Nova Stella. It is designed to look like an antique leather bound book with gold embossing. What makes it even more elegant is the faux marbling on the page edges! It feels like a sumptuous hand-bound book– up to a point, at least. The cover material is smooth and not leathery, but there is embossing all over that gives it a nice texture. The look is spoiled a bit when you use the elastic closure– I would have used a different color, maybe gold or brown, so it would clash less than the black does. But the nice thing about Paperblanks elastics is that they tuck away invisibly next to the back pocket when you’re not using them.
At 240 pages, which is higher than usual for a pocket size notebook, it is chunky and has a nice weight to it, without being so heavy you wouldn’t want to carry it around. The spine is rounded and the page edges follow this curve. In the photos below, the black notebook is a pocket size Moleskine for comparison.
There are black and white headbands that seem to be integrated into the sewing of the binding, which is very unusual for notebooks these days. Usually the headbands are glued on bits of braided yarn and you can see the frayed edges where they are just cut at the ends– what is supposed to mimic a fine bookbinding detail ends up looking cheap and tacky. But in the Paperblanks notebook, they seem tightly woven in to a sturdy, reinforced spine, though I’d have to dissect the whole notebook to really figure out how it’s made. And once more, I do wish they had used a different color for the headbands!
One other thing I really like about the exterior: very minimal cover overhang, with tight corners.
Inside, there are brown endpapers, and a red ribbon marker (which, again, might have been nicer in gold). Inside the back cover is an expanding pocket, and a note about the inspiration for the design. I really like how they give you this background on the historical source.
The paper inside is creamy white and feels thicker than average. No paper weight is specified on the notebook, but the Paperblanks website says it is 120 GSM. It is unlined, which I have found hard to find in Paperblanks displays in stores, where most of their notebooks seem to be lined. This paper is really great and truly fountain pen friendly, with no bleed or feathering and a nice glow to colored inks. Show-through and bleed-through are much less than average in general.
The paper is so good, I decided to also test some watercolors to see how this would work as a sketchbook. The paper actually does fine with light use of watercolors– it buckled when it was wet but flattened out after it dried and the notebook had been closed for a few minutes. I wouldn’t recommend a lot of scrubby wet brushwork in this notebook but it will do fine with moderate use of watercolors or markers– I also tested some grey Pitt Artist Pens at the bottom of the watercolor page. (You can see the back of the watercolor test page facing the front of the fountain pen test page.)
Note: not all Paperblanks notebooks use this same paper. Their reporter style notebooks offer a grid page option, but the paper is only 80 GSM– I’ve tested one and it did not perform as well as the Solis. Also see 2013 Paperblanks notebook review here– another unlined paper that did well with fountain pens. Other Paperblanks notebooks range from 80 to 100 or 120 GSM, so if you are looking at buying one, check their website to see which paper is inside.)
The suggested retail price on this notebook is $16.95, which is slightly higher than average for most hardcover journals this size. But to me the extra page count, fountain pen friendly paper and high quality construction make it worth the price. And as of this writing the mini size is only $13.63 on Amazon. Other sizes are also available.
I really love the Paperblanks Nova Stella Solis notebook and will be keeping a closer eye on what Paperblanks is up to. My personal preference tends to be more minimal cover designs but when I see things like this Solis design or the Old Leather notebook I bought years ago, I am inspired to mix things up and add a little more pizzazz to my collection! This one is definitely going in the “use someday” pile.
Wow, this is a beautiful notebook. I bought myself a model called Daphnis :)