Great Britain’s royal family has long been artistically inclined. Their work is now the subject of an exhibition called The Royal Paintbox, which runs from June 22, 2013 to January 26, 2014 at Windsor Castle. Here’s a wonderful example: Exhibition curator Lauren Porter holds a book owned by Queen Victoria containing various sketches drawn in … Continue reading Queen Victoria’s Sketchbook
I just read an interesting book called Fordlandia, about Henry Ford’s attempt to set up his own model community in Brazil where he wanted to have his own rubber plantation. Ford apparently kept a lot of pocket notebooks, which are mentioned in the book. I haven’t found any photos of them yet, but I did … Continue reading Thomas Edison’s Notebook
I forget how I came across this but it’s pretty cool. From a 2008 eBay sale– I wonder who snagged it! Read more at Hang Fire Books: 1919 Electrical Engineer’s Notebook, Abstract Plumbing Poster and 1950s Telefilm Pressbooks.
From an exhibition at Dartmouth College: “James R. Crawford’s notebooks. Crawford was a ship’s engineer on the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913-1918) organized by Vilhjalmur Stefansson. The notebooks, diaries and logs kept by expedition staff like Crawford provide valuable insight into the weather, ice conditions, and wildlife in the Arctic. Crawford, for example, kept daily detailed … Continue reading A Polar Explorer’s Notebook
The Moleskine mythology of having been the notebook used by Picasso, Hemingway, and Chatwin is, of course, not true, as the Moleskine brand didn’t exist until the late 1990s. But since the Moleskines we know today were modeled after similar notebooks used by these and many other artists and writers in the early 20th century, … Continue reading A Real Picasso Sketchbook
Wow, I can’t believe I never heard about this gallery show when it was in New York this past fall: Dylan Stone’s 100 Years project at Ruth Phaneuf Fine Arts. I found out about it via a recent post at Design Observer: The Twentieth Century began on the morning of the 20th of August, 1900, … Continue reading 100 Years of Diaries
I love coming across antique notebooks. This was a random find on RobMan170’s Flickr feed: The journal belonged to someone named William Lee who sailed from Hong Kong to England in 1894. There are scans of what seem to be every page of the notebook, including some drawings and the manufacturer’s info on the inside … Continue reading An 1894 Travel Notebook
I am always drawn to old notebooks, even if the notes within aren’t about a subject I’m particularly interested in. I’m tempted whenever I see these stories about notebooks being auctioned, even if they’re way beyond my budget! This one, belonging to Alfred Wainwright, an expert on England’s Lake District, ended up selling for £8,600. … Continue reading Lake District Notebook
Beautiful… Via A Paper Bear Art Journal Tumblr | Japanese notebook. Found here..
A reader named LC tipped me off to this interesting conference happening this coming weekend at Harvard: “Take Note” brings together scholars from literature, history, media studies, information science, and computer science to explore the past and future roles of note-taking across the university. Panelists will discuss the history of note-taking in different disciplines as … Continue reading Take Note Conference