In all the years I’ve been blogging, I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a Fabriano notebook. This seems like a strange omission, as I am pretty sure I’ve bought Fabriano notebooks before, but as far as I can tell, the only one currently in my possession is this Ecoqua Plus softcover notebook, purchased quite recently.

I’ve seen displays of Fabriano notebooks in stores for years, usually in larger sizes, or staple-bound formats. But it’s only recently that I’ve seen hardcover and softcover notebooks in my preferred pocket Moleskine-ish format of 3.5 x 5.5″. I decided it was time to take the plunge and try one!

I chose a rather un-adventurous black softcover notebook, with squared pages. It is very similar to a Moleskine softcover in a lot of ways– ribbon marker, elastic closure, back pocket. Various exterior colors are available, as are different page layouts: plain, lined, squared, dotted. But there are some important differences that make these a lot nicer than a Moleskine (shown below for comparison).

The exterior cover is a sturdy paper, with a smooth surface and a faux-cloth texture. The Fabriano logo appears on the back cover in a silver metallic ink, but otherwise, it’s totally plain once you remove the paper band with the product info. If you prefer the faux-leather texture of the Moleskine cover, you might not like the Fabriano material, but it looks attractive and feels sturdy.

The inside covers are plain black paper, or perhaps charcoal grey, as they are slightly lighter than the black of the cover. I love the look of black endpapers, though they limit what pens you can use to write on them.

Inside is where the Fabriano Ecoqua Plus notebook really shines. The paper is fantastic– white with a fine grey grid, the color is a little less creamy than Moleskine paper. It feels similarly smooth, but you can tell right away that it’s heavier: 90 gsm. And when you write on it, it really shines: fountain pens are vibrant, with nice ink shading. There’s no bleedthrough, and less show-through than average. It’s fantastic paper. And they have quite a few ecological certifications too.

My only issues with this notebook are these: the spine is a bit stiff. I”m not sure if mine just has a little extra glue, or a little missing glue, but on one end it sticks pretty closely to the page signatures, and on the other it pops out when you open the notebook. The notebook will open flat and if you press down on it, it will pretty much stay open, but then when you close it, it won’t stay totally closed. This might change as the notebook breaks in with use.

Issue 2 is that the grid squares are wider at the page edges. It’s not a big deal but I don’t know why they didn’t continue the grid rulings in exact squares all the way to the top, bottom and sides.

Issue 3 might not even really be an issue, but it’s that the notebook is made of 5 signatures of pages. In looking at a Moleskine softcover notebook I have (which is an older model, and perhaps not representative of their current construction), it’s made of 10 signatures. I always like seeing more signatures with fewer pages, as I feel like it makes for a more supple spine.

Other than that, I love this notebook and plan to try it for daily use someday. It will be interesting to see how it stands up to heavy usage– I loved my first softcover Moleskine too, but found that the corners of the cover got a little ragged, and the page block was not very securely attached to the cover. This may just be a tradeoff that comes with softcover notebooks: the softer the spine and cover, the more likely they are to fall apart. I kind of wish I had tried a hardcover version of the Fabriano Ecoqua Plus notebook too, to see if the stiff spine issues also appear in those. I will probably buy one, now that I know how much I like the Fabriano paper.

I see various Fabriano Ecoqua Plus notebooks listed on Amazon, including other colors, sizes, and styles. If you click through this listing for the “stitch bound” notebooks, you’ll see all the colors and sizes listed as additional options. I bought mine at Jerry’s, where the list price is $14.30 for the pocket size, but they are discounted to $8.58 as of this writing! I’ve also seen them at Blick and in independent art supply stores.