I can’t believe it’s taken me over 2 years to review these notebooks. I first heard of Design-Y in early 2012, when they were receiving quite a bit of buzz on fountain pen blogs. If you’re not familiar with this brand, here’s the background: they are handmade in Japan by a Mr. Yoshino. He uses … Continue reading Review: Design.Y Notebooks
A reader asked for more details about the notebooks in my “What I’m Using Now” photo. I haven’t been updating that photo as often as I should, though for the most part, it’s still accurate most of the time. The red and blue notebooks are HandBook Artist Journals that I have been slowly filling with … Continue reading What I’m Using Now (and Recently)
Here’s another old-time favorite of mine: These are pocket sized notebooks made by Boorum & Pease and Esselte in the 1980s, with lined pages and a textured black hard cover. I look at these now and see them as a sort of proto-Moleskine. I was always looking for a nice “little black book,” in a … Continue reading Boorum & Pease/Esselte Black Notebooks
A reader recently wrote to me with the following question: “I have been looking for a particular kind of notebook for quite some time. I see them more in movies than anything, and examples include JFK and the most recent Captain America movie (see pic below). It’s very similar to the one you have posted … Continue reading Boorum and Pease Brown Taped-Spine Notebook
I thought it would be fun to have a whole week of posts about an old brand of notebooks that used to be ubiquitous and now has become almost– but not quite— extinct: Boorum and Pease. They started out as an independent manufacturer of blank books based in Brooklyn, but since then, they’ve been absorbed … Continue reading This Week’s Theme: Old Notebooks from Boorum & Pease
I’ve reviewed and mentioned Leuchtturm notebooks many times– over the last few years, they’ve been popping up in more and more stores and are probably Moleskine‘s closest competitor. I’m sure that is in part due to marketing efforts on the part of their distributor, Kikkerland, who were kind enough to send me the samples you’ll … Continue reading Review and Giveaway: Leuchtturm Notebooks… and Sketchbook!
The folks at Paperblanks were kind enough to send me some samples after seeing my review of their “Old Leather” notebook. I am so glad they did, as I really love the notebooks they sent. Though there are things about them that are not 100% what I tend to look for in notebooks for my … Continue reading Review and Giveaway: Paperblanks Mini Reporter Notebooks
I forget exactly how I stumbled across the Hahnemuhle Travel Journal, but this is the website where I first remember seeing it, and the photo that got me all excited: Heaton Cooper Studio [UPDATED: the original photo is no longer on that website, but I think the image below was it.] Nice plain black covers, … Continue reading Review: Hahnemuhle Travel Journal and Travel Booklets
I went to London recently on a business trip and was excited about having an opportunity to spot some notebooks that might not be available in the US… but unfortunately, the trip was a bit of a bust in that respect. I had jotted down the names of some stationery and art supply shops (thank … Continue reading Disappointing Notebook Shopping
This review makes me sad! I’m going to cut to the chase and say this is a GREAT notebook, but it seems that SiS Original, the online store that sent me this sample has just gone out of business! Now I feel very bad that I wasn’t able to catch up and write the review … Continue reading Review: Conceptum Notebook