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
A really interesting find! There is a video at the link below– you can see the notebooks at about 1:30. Three rare handwritten notebooks from the first Indigenous activist to campaign overseas have been given a permanent home in Canberra. Anthony Martin Fernando left Sydney in the 1890s and travelled throughout Europe, publicising the plight … Continue reading An Aboriginal Activist’s Notebooks
This unique item was a Christmas gift to me from one of the few people who knows I’m obsessed enough with notebooks to write this blog. Of course I was thrilled when I opened the wrapping paper and saw it: The notebook is about 4×6″, with what appears to be a hand-painted suede cover. … Continue reading Western Suede-covered Diary from 1949